Turkey dismisses 18,000 army, civilian personnel

Ankara, July 8: The Turkish government on Sunday ordered the dismissal of 18,632 civil servants, mostly from the police and military, over links to a failed coup attempt in July 2016. The dismissals were published in an official bulletin in a decree under the state of emergency which is expected to be lifted on Monday, reports Efe news. Almost 9,000 police officials, some 6,000 armed forces personnel and 1,000 civil servants from the justice ministry have been affected by the measure, which Turkish media has dubbed the last state of emergency decree. The Turkish government blamed groups linked to exiled preacher Fethullah Gulen for the failed coup attempt. Since the state of emergency was declared on July 20, 2017, thousands of officials and academics with alleged close ties with Gulen have been arrested or removed from their posts. (IANS)