BEIRUT // Turkey's widespread purge of state and state-licensed institutions intensified on Wednesday, with over 50,000 people removed from their posts or detained following a failed coup by factions of the military.
The crackdown, which began with the detention and removal of thousands of soldiers, police officers, judges and civil servants, has now moved on to target teachers and academics.
Turkey told academics on Wednesday that they were barred from any work trips outside the country. Those currently abroad were asked to return home immediately. Another 6,500 education ministry employees were also suspended.
The latest moves came one day after Turkey's ministry of education suspended more than 15,000 employees, including teachers, demanded the resignation of 1,600 university deans and revoked the licenses of some 21,000 teachers working at private institutions.
"Tip-offs that these (people) are mostly linked with terrorist activities have been taken into consideration," a ministry of education official said, referring to teachers in private educational institutions, according to the pro-government Daily Sabah newspaper.
As the number of those targeted in the purge continue to rise, it increasingly appears that the crackdown has less to do with getting rid of coup-plotters than with clearing potential ideological opponents out of state institutions and intimidating dissenters into toeing the government line. The sheer numbers have also strengthened speculation that the government had prepared lists of people it wanted removed even before the attempted coup took place.
After returning to Ankara for the first time since the failed coup, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan convened meetings on Wednesday with the country's top civilian and military officials. Those meetings were expected to produce a new set of emergency measures in response to the coup attempt.
The Turkish government has insinuated that all those who have been purged are associated with the exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen who they blame for inciting the uprising. Turkey now wants the US to extradite Mr Gulen but have not made public any concrete evidence linking him — or the tens of thousands removed from their posts — to the coup. .
On Wednesday, the state-run Anadolu Agency carried a confession from Lieutenant Colonel Levent Turkkan, aide to the chief of general staff of the armed forces, General Hulusi Akar. Lt Col Turkan said he acted as a spy for Mr Gulen's organisation, the so-called "parallel state" that the government alleges was behind the coup attempt. Despite claims that he had surrendered and expressed regret, Lt Col Turkkan appeared badly beaten in the accompanying photo.
Also on Wednesday, Turkey formally charged 99 of the country's 360 or so military generals for alleged roles in the coup attempt.
In the immediate aftermath of Friday night's coup attempt, Turkish news outlets were heaped with praise by officials for remaining "patriotic" and staying on air, even broadcasting as soldiers stormed their premises. One newsreader, working for the state-run broadcaster TRT, revealed she had been forced at gunpoint to read a statement. Another station, CNN Turk, broadcast President Erdogan's appeal for supporters to resist the coup by taking to the streets. The media's resistance was seen as a major contributing factor to the coup's failure. But now the tide has turned. According to Amnesty International on Wednesday, Turkey has blocked access to more than 20 news websites, stripped 34 journalists of their press credentials and revoked the media licenses of 25 outlets.
"We are witnessing a crackdown of exceptional proportions in Turkey at the moment," said Andrew Gardner, Amnesty International's Turkey researcher. "While it is understandable, and legitimate, that the government wishes to investigate and punish those responsible for this bloody coup attempt, they must abide by the rule of law and respect the freedom of expression."
In an interview with CNN on Monday, Mr Erdogan assured viewers he had never had an issue with a free press, but said actions could be taken against media outlets that sided with the coup.
Turkey also blocked access to WikiLeaks on Wednesday, just after the site leaked 300,000 emails to and from Mr Erdogan's AKP. WikiLeaks released the documents late on Tuesday night, saying they were delayed by a 24-hour-long series of cyber attacks.
"We are unsure of the true origin of the attack. The timing suggests a Turkish state power faction or its allies. We will prevail & publish," said WikiLeaks on Twitter.
Meanwhile, Turkish jets resumed their war against Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants on Wednesday after halting it in the aftermath of the coup attempt, striking targets of the Kurdish separatists in northern Iraq. The attacks killed 20 PKK fighters according to Turkey's state-run news outlets.
However, the Incirlik airbase in the southern city of Adana was still without power on Wednesday, after four days. Turkish officials said they cut power to Incirlik and other airbases when the coup attempt was underway to hamper the efforts of potential dissidents in the air force, but the situation is unlikely to reassure the Americans who use Incirlik to launch air strikes against ISIL in Iraq and Syria. .
US aircraft at the base were grounded immediately after the coup attempt at Turkey's request, but operations resumed at the base on Sunday despite it being cut off from the Turkish power grid.
jwood@thenational.ae
* With additional reporting by Associated Press and Reuters
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