Turkey’s Failed Coup One Year Later: 24 Governors, 169 Generals, 50,000 Total Arrested

Police officers escort people, arrested because of suspected links to U.S.-based cleric Fe
Olay Duzgun/DHA-Depo Photos via AP

The administration of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has taken legal action against 169,013 people in the wake of the failed coup attempt a year ago, a figure that includes 50,010 individuals arrested, announced the country’s Ministry of Justice.

Independent data shows that 138,148 people have lost their government jobs at the national and local levels as a result of a post-coup purge by Erdogan.

Citing a written statement from the justice ministry, the Istanbul-based Turkish news agency Bianet reported on July 13, echoing other outlets:

As a part of these [169,013] investigations, 50,510 people have been arrested including 169 generals, 7,098 colonels and low-ranking officers as well as 8,815 security staff, 24 governors, 73 vice governors, 116 sub-governors and other 31,784 suspects.

Within this approximately one-year period, 48,439 people have been subjected to probation decisions including 3,046 soldiers, 5,024 police officers, 9 governors, 27 vice-governors, 73 sub-governors and other 39,041 suspects within these investigations.

In addition, 43,404 people who were taken into custody, were later released including 10,033 people from Prosecutor’s Office and 33,371 law-enforcement officers.

The news outlet Turkish Minute (TM) learned from the recent justice ministry statement that “there are outstanding detention warrants for 8,087 individuals, 152 of whom are military officers, 392 are police officers and three are governors.”

“A total of 2,431 members of the Turkish judiciary are also among those arrested in the aftermath of the July 15 coup attempt, while 265 of them are at large,” added TM.

The Turkish government has identified the arrested judiciary officials: judges and prosecutors (2,280); members of the Supreme Court of Appeals (105); members of the Council of State (41); members of the Constitutional Court (2); and members of the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (3).

“Of the 4,469 judicial staff against whom legal action was taken, 1,216 were subjected to probation orders, 88 were released by Prosecutor’s Office and 409 others by police,” reveals Bianet.

Erdogan has also issued orders to forcibly obtain testimony from 265 people, including 234 judicial staff, 5 members of the Council of State and 26 members of the Supreme Court of Appeals, it adds.

Various press freedom groups such as Platform for Independent Journalism, Stockholm Center for Freedom (SCF), and Journalists’ Union of Turkey (TGS), in collaboration with Bianet, have compiled independent post-coup surge data partly gleaned from the Turkish government.

The independent data reveals that as of July 12, 138,148 people have been fired and 55,927 others arrested, including 269 journalists.

Furthermore, 3,520 entities have been shut down, including 195 media outlets, 1,284 schools, 800 dormitories, 15 universities, 560 foundations, 54 hospitals, 1,125 associations, and 19 trade unions.

Hundreds of thousands” recently took to the streets to protest the post-coup crackdown, accusing the Erdogan regime of imposing a dictatorship on the Turkish people.

The Erdogan administration has taken legal action against thousands of individuals in response to the failed July 15 military coup attempt that the Turkish government has primarily blamed on influential Imam Fethullah Gulen.

U.S.-based Gulen has denied the allegations. He is an ally of Erdogan, turned enemy, who leads a religious movement that the Turkish government deemed a terrorist organization — Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETO) — before the coup.

The Erdogan has purged local and national government agencies of many officials allegedly linked to Gulen.

Turkish Minute points out:

Fethullah Gulen, who inspired the movement, strongly denied having any role in the failed coup and called for an international investigation into it, but President Erdogan — calling the coup attempt “a gift from God” — and the government initiated a widespread purge aimed at cleansing sympathizers of the movement from within state institutions, dehumanizing its popular figures and putting participants of the Gulen movement in jails.

The Erdogan government claims coup attempt-linked violence fueled the deaths of more than 240 people and injury to least 2,000 others on July 15.

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