Amid debates that Turkish state institutions have been taken under control of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s political Islamist ideology, a new governor of Sakarya province was welcomed to his office with religious ceremony, according to video shared in intenet.
According to video shared by HalkTv on Saturday, Governor İlhan Balkanlıoğlu was accompanied a group of people chanting religious messages when he took office in Sakarya Governor’s Office.
Praising their resistance during the coup attempt on July 15 last year, Governor asks people whether any of them were injured during coup night. Some of the people seen raising their hands and saying “yes” to confirm.
According to Cumhuriyet, the group welcomed Balkanlıoğlu and chanted Islamic messagesin the Governor’s Office was people from İsmailağa group which is know a group close to Erdoğan.
Ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government has been continuing a purge, one of the greatest in history of Turkish Republic.
Since July 15, 2016, Turkey has suspended or dismissed more than 145,000 people, including judges, teachers, police and civil servants as part of witch hunt targeting people allegedly linked with Gülen movement, which is accused by Turkish authorities of being behing the coup attempt.
On July 14 this year, a total of 7,348 people, including 302 academics, have been dismissed from state institutions by a new government decree, known as a KHK, that went into effect.
Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ announced on July 7, 2017 that at least 50,504 people have been arrested and 168,801 are the subject of legal proceedings.