A TOTAL of 13,165 people have been detained over the July 15th failed coup attempt, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday.
A three-month state of emergency has been declared with those arrested allowed to be held without charge or trial for one month. Erdogan said in a speech broadcast in squares around Turkey: ‘Some 8,838 among the detained are soldiers, 2,101 are judges and prosecutors, 1,485 are police officers, 52 are local authorities and 689 are civilians’
Some 123 among the jailed 5,863 individuals were generals, 282 were high-ranking police officers and 1,559 were judges and prosecutors. He added: ‘The interrogations of the others are ongoing. A total of 934 schools, 109 dormitories, 15 universities, 104 foundations, 35 health institutions, 1,125 associations and 19 unions have been closed down. Their assets were seized by the state.’
Turkey’s elite presidential guard is to be disbanded after nearly 300 of its members were detained, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told a TV channel on Saturday adding that there was ‘no need’ for the regiment.
Last Friday, UNI Global Union expressed alarm at the wave of dismissals and suspensions of Turkish workers in the aftermath of the previous weekend’s attempted military coup.
UNI Global Union general secretary Philip Jennings said: ‘The scale of reprisals in the wake of the military coup have been worrying, and we must fight back against the trend of undemocratic authoritarianism in Turkey…
‘It is also of grave concern that the Turkish authorities, in the hours and days immediately following the failed coup, have launched a large-scale programme of dismissals and suspensions of workers.
‘Workers have the right to their own political opinions, and the right to peaceful opposition to government policies, without the threat of summary dismissal or suspension. We urge the Turkish government to respect the rights to freedom of expression and association in full.
‘Events in the country are still developing, and we would like to stand in solidarity with our Turkish affiliates, NGOs and all those seeking to build a democratic Turkey based on peace, equality and freedom.’
