The Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects (TMMOB) stated on Monday that 2,054 engineers and architects in total have been dismissed from state jobs by government decrees issued as part of a state of emergency declared following a failed coup attempt on July 15.
In a statement on Monday, TMMOB underlined that 2,054 engineers and architects have been sacked by 12 statutory decrees “without any questions asked, and without any investigation.”
“Tens of thousands of people have been dismissed or suspended according to lists based upon denunciations and personal initiatives. There are almost no teachers or lecturers in schools and universities, engineers to conduct studies in ministries or public officials to serve in municipalities,
According to TMMOB, the dismissals are unacceptable and against fundamental legal norms and human rights.
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 Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, whose views inspired the movement, 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.
More than 115,000 people have been purged from state bodies, in excess of 90,000 detained and over 39,000 have been arrested since the coup attempt. Arrestees include journalists, judges, prosecutors, police and military officers, academics, governors and even a comedian. Critics argue that lists of Gülen sympathizers were drawn up prior to the coup attempt.