As part of a post-coup-attempt purge, the Turkish government has dismissed 1,267 more academics from universities under new state of emergency decrees issued on Saturday.
According statistics published by Turkey Purge, over 6,300 academics have been purged since a foiled coup attempt of July 15.
A total of 147 academics were dismissed by the military regime after the 1960 coup. Similarly, 120 academics were fired by the military regime following the 1980 coup.
No more elections for rectors
A new decree has also cancelled the election of rectors by university academics. New rectors will be appointed by the president from among three candidates proposed by the Higher Education Board (YÖK).
The Turkish government dismissed 10,158 people from state institutions with new state of emergency decrees issued on Saturday. The total number of purged individuals has risen to about 120,000.
Turkey survived a military coup attempt on July 15 that killed over 240 people and wounded more than a thousand others. Immediately after the putsch, the government along with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement.
Despite Gülen and the movement having denied the accusation, Erdoğan — calling the coup attempt “a gift from God” — and the government launched a widespread purge aimed at cleansing sympathizers of the movement from within state institutions, dehumanizing its popular figures and putting them in custody.
Over 80,000 have been detained and more than 36,000 arrested since the coup attempt.