Over 15000 sacked in coup purge

Ankara: Turkey on Tuesday dismissed over 15,000 more civil servants, police officers and military personnel within the state of emergency imposed after the July failed coup, in a purge that shows no sign of slowing.

More than 100,000 people within the military, police, judiciary and education sector have been arrested, suspended or sacked so far in a crackdown on those alleged to have links to coup-plotters.

In the latest government decree published on Tuesday, 7,586 personnel working in the police, including police chiefs and commissioners, were dismissed. Meanwhile 1,956 soldiers and personnel in the Air Force and Navy were sacked while another 403 were removed from the gendarmerie, which looks after domestic security.

Thousands more were dismissed in government ministries and state institutions, including nearly 3,000 officials in the interior ministry and its linked institutions. In total, 15,726 people have been dismissed under the latest decrees. The dismissals are allowed under the state of emergency, which was extended by another three months in October, and was originally imposed in the wake of the coup.