 on the orders of Defense Minister Hulusi Akar after the expiration of a state of emergency declared over a failed coup, Turkish media reported on Thursday.){kind=link}
Turkey’s defense ministry dismissed 5,587 members from the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) on the orders of Defense Minister Hulusi Akar after the expiration of a state of emergency declared over a failed coup, Turkish media reported on Thursday.
Combined with the number of personnel purged during the state of emergency, a total of 20,571 members have been dismissed over alleged ties to the Gülen movement, a faith-inspired group accused by Ankara of orchestrating the failed coup in July 2016.
The movement strongly denies any involvement.
Since the beginning of 2020, the TSK has dismissed 1,895 members from the service.
Following the coup attempt, the Turkish government launched a massive crackdown on non-loyalist citizens under the pretext of an anti-coup fight as a result of which more than 130,000 people were removed from state jobs while in excess of 30,000 others are still in jail and some 600,000 people have been investigated on allegations of terrorism.