Turkey’s Minister of Justice Abdülhamit Gül said on Tuesday that ongoing purges within the bureaucracy might continue since it is not possible to claim that the public sector has yet been cleansed of the faith-based Gülen movement.
Referring to the movement as “FETÖ,” a pejorative acronym used by the government in Turkey to designate the movement as a terrorist organization despite its denials, Gül claimed that FETÖ is working secretly within the state and that it is not possible to eliminate it quickly.
Particularly since a failed coup on July 15, 2016 the regime in Turkey has considered the movement a terrorist organization and has put the blame for the coup attempt on its leader, Fethullah Gülen, although he and his followers deny any involvement.
A massive purge of real and perceived supporters of the movement within the bureaucracy has been ongoing since the abortive putsch.
Nearly 5,000 judges and prosecutors have been dismissed, and many of them are jailed on coup charges and links to the Gülen movement.
More than 150,000 civil servants have been purged by means of presidential decrees issued since July 2016.
