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Turkey Dismisses 7,300 Public Servants on Eve of Failed Coup Anniversary

© REUTERS / Kenan GurbuzSupporters of President Tayyip Erdogan wave Turkish flags as shirts hung on gallows are seen in the foreground during a trial for soldiers accused of attempting to assassinate the president on the night of the failed last year's July 15, 2016 coup, in Mugla, Turkey July 14, 2017.
Supporters of President Tayyip Erdogan wave Turkish flags as shirts hung on gallows are seen in the foreground during a trial for soldiers accused of attempting to assassinate the president on the night of the failed last year's July 15, 2016 coup, in Mugla, Turkey July 14, 2017. - Sputnik International
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A total of 7,348 people have been dismissed from their jobs today with the Turkish government as part of the latest crackdown from Ankara against those suspected of sympathy for or involvement in the failed coup attempt by members of the Turkish military. The one-year anniversary of the coup will occur on July 15, 2017.

Those dismissed by today's decree were primarily police officers, civil servants, and academics:  2,303 police officers lost their jobs, along with 302 academics. In addition, 342 retired soldiers were stripped of their ranks and grades.

They are accused of disloyalty and membership in the Gulen movement, led by Turkish exile Fethullah Gulen who now lives in Pennsylvania. Gulen was once a close ally of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but is now one of his most vocal and visible critics. 

German airmen stand next to a fighter jet and a transport plane after the US Defense Secretary Ash Carter visited the Incirlik Air Base near Adana, Turkey, Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2015 - Sputnik International
Divisions Within NATO Grow Over Turkish Crackdown Following Coup

Erdogan accused Gulen of organizing the coup attempt against him, a charge Gulen denies. Gulen has also gone on to say that Erdogan organized the coup himself, and is using the coup as a false flag to crack down on those disloyal to him in the police, schools, and civil service.

Since the failed coup, 50,000 Turks have been arrested and another 150,000 sacked on suspicion of being involved in the coup.

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