Turkey sacks 10,000 civil servants

Europe warns Ankara over death penalty plans

istanbul — Turkish authorities have dismissed more than 10,000 civil servants over their suspected links with US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, blamed by Ankara for orchestrating the failed coup in July.

Thousands of academics, teachers and health workers were among those removed through a new emergency rule decree published on the Official Gazette late on Saturday while 15 media outlets, almost all of which reported from the largely Kurdish southeast, were shut down.

Through the decrees, elections to choose a rector at the universities have also been abolished. President Tayyip Erdogan will directly appoint the rectors from the candidates nominated by the High Educational Board (YOK).

Turkey has formally arrested more than 37,000 people and has already sacked or suspended 100,000 civil servants, judges, prosecutors, police and others in an unprecedented crackdown the government says is necessary to root out all supporters of Gulen from the state apparatus and key positions.

A state of emergency imposed right after the bloody failed coup in July has been extended for another three months until January after Erdogan said the authorities needed more time to eradicate the threat posed by Gulen’s network as well as Kurdish militants who have waged a 32-year insurgency.

The total number of media outlets shut down since the start of the state of emergency has now exceeded 160.

The extent of the crackdown has worried rights groups and some Western allies, who fear Erdogan is using it to curtail dissent. The government says the actions are justified by the threat to the state on July 15, when more than 240 people died.— strasbourg — The Council of Europe warned Turkey against reestablishing the death penalty on Sunday as Ankara stepped up its crackdown over the failed July coup by firing 10,000 more civil servants.

“Executing the death penalty is incompatible with membership of the Council of Europe,” the 47-member organisation, which includes Turkey, tweeted a day after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his government would ask parliament to consider reintroduction.

“Soon, soon, don’t worry. It’s happening soon, God willing,” Erdogan told supporters in Ankara on Saturday as crowds chanted: “We want the death penalty!”

Erdogan, who did not specify a timetable, said his government would take the proposal to parliament, which said he was sure would approve it, allowing him to ratify the proposal.

Turkey abolished capital punishment in 2004 as the nation sought accession to the European Union.

Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz added to the Council’s warning, denouncing Turkey for considering a move that would “slam the door shut to the European Union”.—