Turkey purged more than 18,500 people from government jobs for allegedly posing a security risk to the state, a day before Recep Tayyip Erdogan takes office as an executive president with vastly expanded powers.
About 9000 police personnel and more than 6000 officers from the country's armed services were among the 18,632 public sector workers dismissed today, along with almost 200 academics and about 650 teachers, according to the latest decree the government published under its state of emergency. Three newspapers, one TV channel and 12 associations were also shut down.
The sweeping dismissals bring to about 130,000 the number of people purged from Turkey's civil service since a July 2016 coup attempt, and come just days before the state of emergency expires.
"The recent purge is a further consolidation of the grip on power that Erdogan has been working on particularly since the attempted coup," Ghanem Nuseibeh, founder of London based political risk consultants Cornerstone Global Associates, said by email. "The purge is surprising in its magnitude and many will accuse Erdogan of going after anyone who opposes him."
The Government says it has purged followers of US-based Turkish preacher Fethullah Gulen, whom it accuses of masterminding the coup. He denies the charge.
