Turkey set to release 38,000 prisoners, makes space in jails after coup

ISTANBUL: Turkey will release some 38,000 prisoners under a penal reform announced yesterday as the arrests of tens of thousands of people suspected of links to last month’s attempted coup burden overstretched jails.

The reform, extending an existing probation scheme, was one of a series of measures outlined on Wednesday in two new decrees under a state of emergency declared after the July 15 failed putsch during which 240 people were killed.

The government gave no reason for the reform.

Turkey’s Western allies worry President Tayyip Erdogan is using the crackdown to target dissent.

Angrily dismissing Western concerns over stability in the Nato member, Turkish officials say they are rooting out a serious internal threat.

The decrees, published in the country’s Official Gazette, also ordered the dismissal of 2,360 more police officers, more than 100 military personnel and 196 staff at Turkey’s information and communication technology authority, BTK.

Those dismissed were described as having links to US- based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of orchestrating the putsch when rogue troops commandeered tanks and jets in an attempt to overthrow the government.

Gulen denies involvement in the coup. Under the penal reform, convicts with up to two years left in sentences are eligible for release on probation, extending the period from one year.

The ‘supervised release’ excludes those convicted of terrorism, murder, violent or sexual crimes. — Reuters