Ankara sacks over 4,000 judges linked to Gulen

Turkey has sacked more than 4,000 judges and prosecutors accused of supporting last year's abortive putsch against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The judiciary officials were dismissed from duty after investigation, Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said on Friday.

Ankara accuses US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, who wields huge support in the judiciary, of having a role in the failed coup.

"Over 4,000 judges and prosecutors have been removed from their posts inside the Turkish judiciary over their links to the Fethullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) ," Bozdag said, referring to the name Turkey gives the Gulen movement.

"The investigations have finished. At this moment, there is no judge or prosecutor left that we have not screened," Bozdag said in a speech in Ankara.

He added that there could be further investigations "because of the nature of the organization."

"We are facing a very different kind of terror organization," the Turkish minister said.

Also on Friday, a parliamentary probe blamed FETO for the July 15, 2016 coup attempt that left 250 people dead and about 2,200 injured.

Resat Petek, who chaired the parliamentary probe, said a draft report "clearly reveals" FETO was behind the coup bid.

“Time to time, whether it is the ruling party or coalition parties, this organization finds out a way to use political parties to infiltrate the state's higher institutions, including justice, military and the civil service," he said.

Petek said the fact that there was no advanced information about the coup bid proved "without a doubt…an intelligence failure by the National Intelligence Agency (MIT)." The MIT has been incompetent and needs to be restructured, he said.

FETO exists in 160 different countries, with about 800 schools and universities, 100 dormitories, close to 1,000 NGOs, associations and control over more than 200 media companies, the parliamentary investigation revealed.

"It is estimated that FETO’s flow of capital is between $25-50 billion," it said, adding that there were about 3,000 high-ranking FETO officials.

The draft report also warned about the existence of “disguised” FETO members within the Turkish military that could "again quickly turn into an armed terrorist group."

"The organization used people's religious faith to make false promises, eventually exploiting the dreams of younger generations and their future plans," it said.

"If FETO had succeeded in their bid on July 15, the Republic of Turkey would have seen its darkest, most chaotic period ever," the report said.

Gulen, 76, who lives in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, and strongly opposes Ankara, denies any involvement in the coup attempt against Erdogan.

A few days after the coup attempt, Turkey imposed a state of emergency, under which over 100,000 people have been sacked or suspended from the public sector including teachers, academics, doctors and members of the armed forces. The state of emergency has been renewed three times.

More than 47,000 people have also been imprisoned on suspicion of having links to the coup and the Gulen movement.

Amnesty International has condemned Ankara's "arbitrary dismissals" of its employees. The rights group asked Ankara on May 22 to implement a "prompt and effective appeal mechanism for those already dismissed."

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