Turkey’s state of emergency commission reinstated 2,700 people over 125,000 appeals

ANKARA

A commission formed to investigate controversial state of emergency measures in Turkey has received 125,000 applications and has reinstated 2,700 of them, according to the vice president.

The commission accepted only 40,000 out of 125,000 applications and has made its decisions among these appeals, Vice President Fuat Oktay told state-run Anadolu Agency.

Applications of 37,300 people were rejected, the agency quoted Oktay as saying.

Turkey declared a state of emergency after the failed July 15, 2016 coup attempt, widely believed to have been masterminded by the followers of the United States-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen. As part of emergency rule, the government has issued a raft of emergency decree laws that have led to the dismissal and suspension of thousands of people.

Since the introduction of the state of emergency in the police, military, academia, media and civil service, over 150,000 people were taken into custody, 78,000 were arrested and over 110,000 civil servants were dismissed while 40,000 were reinstated, of which 3,600 by the decree, according to authorities.

Nearly 5,000 institutions were shut down over alleged links to the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ).

The legal path for those dismissed with decrees had been closed under the state of emergency, but a route to appeal was opened when the commission was formed on Jan. 23. This Commission only started to take decisions in December 2017.

The commission was formed after warnings made by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) for accumulation. The 24,000 applications rejected by the ECHR, which cited the existence of the emergency panel, were sent to the commission.