Turkey's Interior Ministry has fired nearly 9,000 police officers, bureaucrats and others and detained thousands of suspected plotters following a foiled coup against the government, local media reported today.
News of the firings and detentions came as the U.S. And European Union urged the government to uphold democracy and human rights as it pursues the military officers and anyone else involved in the coup attempt.
The state-run Anadolu news agency said a total of 8,777 employees attached to the ministry were dismissed, including 30 governors, 52 civil service inspectors and 16 legal advisers.
Other media reports said police and military police officers and coast guards were also removed from duty. The government has blamed Friday's failed coup which it says killed 208 government supporters and 24 plotters on backers of a U.S.-based Muslim cleric who has become President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's chief opponent.
The situation creates a sticky diplomatic situation Turkey is a NATO member and key Western ally in the fight against the Islamic State group, but the EU and U.S. Expressed alarm today about its response to the coup.
Even before the weekend chaos, Turkey had been wracked by political turmoil that critics blamed on Erdogan's increasingly heavy-handed rule. He has shaken up the government, cracked down on dissent, restricted the media and renewed fighting with Kurdish rebels.
"This is no excuse to take the country away from fundamental rights and the rule of law, and we will be extremely vigilant on that," EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said at a joint news conference with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said a total of 7,543 people had been detained since Friday, including 6,030 military personnel. On Monday, according to Anadolu, prosecutors entered Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey, which is key to the U.S.-led campaign against the Islamic State group. A Turkish brigadier general at the base has already been detained for his alleged role in Friday's uprising, and news reports say refueling aircraft that took off from the base helped keep F-16s used by the coup-plotters up in the air.
Though government officials offered reassurances that life has returned to normal, warplanes patrolled Turkey's skies overnight in a sign that authorities feared that the threat was not yet over.
Anadolu said Erdogan ordered the overnight patrol by F-16s "for the control of the airspace and security" after a faction within the military launched the attempted coup.
