Turkey’s ministry of education announced Tuesday it sacked 15,200 personnel for alleged involvement with a group the government claims is responsible for Friday’s deadly failed coup, in the latest mass crackdown against government workers there.
(FOX)- The National Education Ministry said Tuesday that the staffers were in both urban and rural establishments, and that an investigation was launched against them, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
The government accused U.S.-based cleric Fetullah Gulen of plotting the coup and demanded the U.S. extradite him. Turkey sent dossiers containing details of Gulen’s activities to the U.S., deputy prime minister Numan Kurtulmus said.
Earlier, Secretary of State John Kerry said that while he recognized the need to apprehend the coup plotters, “We caution against a reach that goes beyond that.”
Sweeping purges in the aftermath of the coup have seen the dismissal of thousands from the judiciary, police force, military, administrative and religious affairs departments.