Thousands of Turkish teachers sacked, as government cracks down following coup

Turkey will follow France’s example in suspending temporarily the European Convention on Human Rights following its declaration of a state of emergency, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said on Thursday, according to broadcaster NTV.

Speaking to the nation Wednesday night, Erdogan said he met with the National Security Council and together they chose to recommend a state of emergency be declared. Mr Erdogan said the pro-government death toll in the botched coup was 246.

In addition, thousands of other state employees have been fired in half a dozen agencies, all accused of being Gulen followers.

As of today, 15,200 public personnel working at our ministry’s central and rural offices have been suspended from their duties, and an investigation has been launched regarding these people.

Many academics have been critical of Erdogan in the past.

President Erdogan is an Islamic conservative – who long before this failed coup was criticized for stripping away people’s democratic freedoms – locking up journalists, his rivals, and even those who dared to speak out against him on social media. About a third of Turkey’s roughly 360 serving generals have been detained, with 99 charged pending trial and 14 more being held.

Turkey has also cut access to WikiLeaks, banned academics from travelling overseas and suspended 900 officers from the Ankara police force.

Mr Erdogan also expressed his “deepest gratitude” to citizens who took to the streets during the unrest and stayed there to show their support for his administration.

Turkey’s foreign ministry said criticism of the government’s response amounted to backing the bid to overthrow the government.

Erdogan, who has led Turkey as prime minister or president since 2003, has vowed to clean the “virus” responsible for the plot from all state institutions.

A group of insurgents attempted a coup in Turkey overnight to Saturday.

But with concern growing over respect for the rule of law in Turkey nearly a week after the coup that left more than 300 people dead and raised fears of chaos in the key North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member, Erdogan insisted that democracy would not be compromised. The country’s leadership later said that the coup was quashed.