Celal Uzunkaya, the head of Turkey’s Security General Directorate, has said 33,372 members of the police force of various ranks have been dismissed since a 2016 failed coup, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
Police departments have approximately 300,000 members nationwide, Uzunkaya said, adding that in the last three-and-a-half years they have recruited more than 80,000 policemen.
The dismissed police officers were believed to be affiliated with the faith-based Gülen movement, which the government holds responsible for the abortive putsch, although the movement denies any involvement.
During a two-year-long state of emergency that ended last July, Turkey dismissed by government decree some 140,000 public servants over Gülen links.