107,174 state workers dismissed since failed 2016 coup: Turkish Deputy PM Bozdağ

ANKARA

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdağ said on Jan. 31 that since the failed 2016 coup, more than 107,000 state personnel have been dismissed over alleged ties to the group. 

“The number of personnel dismissed through statutory decrees is 110,778 and the number of people reinstated is 3,604,” leading to a net total of 107,174 people who have been dismissed, Bozdağ told Turkish Parliament’s Interior Commission, state-run Anadolu Agency has reported.

The Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ) and its U.S.-based leader Fethullah Gülen are widely believed to have orchestrated the defeated coup on July 15, 2016, which left 250 people killed and nearly 2,200 injured.

Ankara also accuses FETÖ of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and the judiciary.

“To date, a total of 105,151 people have applied to the State of Emergency Procedures Investigation Commission,” in the wake of the defeated coup, said Bozdağ.

Out of rulings on 1,562 people, the commission has ruled in favor of 41 cases and against the rest.

The commission was established with a decree law issued on Jan. 23, 2017 to allow civil servants to appeal legal action taken against them under the imposed state of emergency following the coup attempt.

It consists of seven members along with a team of 200 people, including inspectors, law officials, accountants, investigation judges and transcribers working in the commission.

Bozdağ said none of the people in prison had unknowingly been led to ByLock, an encrypted smartphone messaging application.

“The unjust suffering of our citizens who have been aggrieved by FETÖ will not continue,” said Bozdağ.

FETÖ members had used ByLock to communicate during and after the defeated coup.

The names of nearly 11,500 smartphone users have been removed from lists after it had been discovered these users had unknowingly been directed to ByLock. Since then, courts have also been told to re-examine cases.