Purges in Turkey following the 2016 Turkish coup attempt

Common card · No. 441831

Since 2016, the government of Turkey has conducted a series of purges, enabled by a state of emergency in reaction to the failed coup attempt on 15 July that year. The purges began with the arrest of Turkish Armed Forces personnel reportedly linked to the coup attempt, but arrests were expanded to include other elements of the Turkish military, civil servants, and private citizens. Later actions reflected a power struggle between secularist and Islamist political elites in Turkey, which affected people who were not active in nor aware of the coup but who the government claimed were connected with the Gülen movement, an opposition group which the government blamed for the coup. Possession of books authored by Gülen was considered valid evidence of such a connection and cause for arrest. Tens of thousands of public servants and soldiers were purged in the first week following the coup. For example, on 16 July 2016, one day after the coup was foiled, 2,745 judges were dismissed and detained...

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