Turkey fires thousands from government jobs amid crackdown after coup.

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President says he may bring back the death penalty, which was abolished in Turkey in 2004.

A supporter of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan takes part in a pro-government demonstration in Sarachane park in Istanbul on Tuesday.

 The Turkish government on Tuesday escalated its wide-ranging crackdown against people it claims have ties to the alleged coup plotters, firing thousands and demanding the resignations of more.

 

The dismissals touched many branches of government:

• 24,000 teachers and interior ministry employees suspended 
• 15,200 suspended from education ministry
• 8,777 fired from the Board of Higher Education
• 1,577 university deans being asked to resign
• 492 fired from the directorate of religious affairs
• 393 dismissed from the ministry of family and social policy
• 257 staff booted from the prime minister's office

Tuesday's firings come on top of the roughly 9,000 people who have been detained by the government, including security personnel, judges, prosecutors, religious figures and others.
Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency says courts have ordered 85 generals and admirals jailed, including top Air Force adviser, Lt. Col. Erkan Kivrak. They are awaiting trial over their roles in the coup attempt. Dozens of others were still being questioned.

Academics barred from leaving Turkey

In addition, thousands of academics received emails announcing restrictions on their travel on Monday afternoon.
Professors at Istanbul Kultur University saw the subject line "International trips IMPORTANT!"
The Higher Education Council, which governs all public and private post-secondary institutions, told them, "Until further notice, for whatever reason, international trips have been stopped; it has been decided academics who are outside the country right now should return within a short time."
The council website posted a statement Monday that said the new steps were "needed to cleanse our academic community of the 'parallel state' elements."
The violence surrounding the Friday night coup attempt claimed the lives of 208 government supporters and 24 coup plotters, according to the government. Turkey says Fethullah Gulen, a U.S.-based Muslim cleric, was behind the coup and has demanded his extradition. Gulen has denied any knowledge of the failed coup.
In a bid to calm markets roiled by the coup attempt, Turkey's central bank cut a key interest rate Tuesday to shore up liquidity in the economy. The bank's Monetary Policy Committee said it has reduced its overnight marginal funding rate from 9 per cent to 8.75 per cent.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has strongly suggested that the government is considering reinstating the death penalty, which was abolished in 2004. 

But Turkey's lira weakened beyond 3 to the U.S. dollar on Tuesday. The lira was at 3.0060 to the dollar at 10 a.m. ET, around 1 per cent weaker on the day, with traders citing concern about the purge in the higher education sector.

Top generals deny involvement

Anadolu Agency said Tuesday those formally arrested include former air force commander Gen. Akin Ozturk, alleged to be the ringleader of the July 15 uprising, and Gen. Adem Hududi, commander of Turkey's 2nd Army, which is in charge of countering possible threats to Turkey from Syria, Iran and Iraq.
Ozturk has denied the allegation, saying he neither planned nor directed the failed military coup, according to the Anadolu Agency.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, meanwhile, made a series of televised appearances in which he disclosed dramatic details of his survival on the night of a failed coup and raised the spectre of reintroducing the death penalty to punish conspirators.
He told U.S. broadcaster CNN that he narrowly escaped death after coup plotters stormed the resort town of Marmaris where he was vacationing.

More Erdogan supporters demonstrate in Istanbul Tuesday. Thousands of government workers have been suspended from their jobs amid a crackdown following the coup attempt. (Alkis Konstantinidis/Reuters)

"Had I stayed 10, 15 additional minutes, I would have been killed or I would have been taken," he said in the interview late Monday.

Possibility of reinstating death penalty

The president and other officials have strongly suggested the government is considering reinstating the death penalty, a practice abolished in 2004 as part of Turkey's bid to join the European Union. Several European officials have said such a move would be the end of Turkey's attempts to join.
Addressing hundreds of supporters outside his Istanbul residence early Tuesday, Erdogan responded to calls for the reintroduction of the death penalty with the simple statement: "You cannot put aside the people's demands."
"In a country where our youths are killed with tanks and bombs, if we stay silent, as political people we will be held responsible in the afterlife," Erdogan said, pointing out that capital punishment exists around the world, including in the United States and China.

Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Tuesday that the government will remove the Gulen movement 'by its roots' so that it can never betray the Turkish people again. (Associated Press)

Thousands of officials suspected of links to Gulen, meanwhile, were purged from the judiciary and the Interior Ministry.
"No democracy shall allow for soldiers, prosecutors, police, judges, and bureaucrats to take orders from an outside organization instead of the institutional bureaucracy," said Erdogan.
Turkey's deputy prime minister said dossiers containing details of Gulen's activities have been sent to the U.S. Numan Kurtulmus would not provide details about the files but said they include the past actions of the group that Gulen leads. They may also include new evidence that has emerged from the current investigation. Kurtulmus said an extradition request will follow.
He said 9,000 people have been detained so far, of whom 80 were later released.
Speaking to parliament, the chairman of the opposition Nationalist Movement Party, Devlet Bahceli, said his party would back legislation to reintroduce the death penalty if it was put forward by the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP.
"If the AKP is ready, we are in for the death penalty," Bahceli said.

Thousands of people have been detained for questioning since the failed coup attempt.

Victory was 'epic,' says PM

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, meanwhile, reflected the triumphant mood of authorities. He said the July 15 victory over the plotters was "epic" and that no coup in the history of Turkey had been as brutal as the one that this government survived.
"The force of the tanks could not beat the force of the people," he said.
Yildirim said Turkey has sent four files to the United States on Gulen, who denies any involvement and has condemned the coup attempt.
The prime minister urged Washington not to "harbour this terrorist any longer. He is of no benefit to humanity, he is of no benefit to Islam."
Yildirim also lashed out at Europe, whose leaders have expressed concerns over the purges underway across Turkey's key state institutions.
"We thank our European friends for their support against the coup, however their sentences starting with 'but' did not please us at all," he said.

UN voices 'serious alarm' at mass suspensions

The top United Nations human rights official urged Turkey on Tuesday to uphold the rule of law in the wake of the failed coup and voiced "serious alarm" at the mass suspension of judges and prosecutors.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein also called for independent observers to visit places of detention in Turkey to check on conditions, and for detainees to have access to lawyers and their families.

 

Members of the police special forces are seen in front of the Air Force Academy in Istanbul, Monday, July 18, 2016. A senior security official said 8,000 Turkish police officers had been suspended following a failed coup Friday.

"In the aftermath of such a traumatic experience, it is particularly crucial to ensure that human rights are not squandered in the name of security and in the rush to punish those perceived to be responsible," Zeid said in a statement.
"Reintroduction of the death penalty would be in breach of Turkey's obligations under international human rights law — a big step in the wrong direction," he said.

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