Turkey Declares 3-Month State of Emergency

by -VOA
Turkey’s president has declared a three-month state of emergency following last week’s attempted coup.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued the declaration in a televised address on Wednesday, after a cabinet meeting on stabilizing the country.

Earlier, Turkish state media reported authorities are acting to close down 626 private schools and other educational establishments, in the latest step of a crackdown after last week’s attempted coup.

The schools are linked to exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen, who set up a network of schools across Turkey to promote his teachings.

Also Wednesday, Turkey’s higher education council announced a ban on academics traveling abroad and urged all of those currently abroad to return home quickly.

In addition, Turkey has banned academics from leaving the country and urged those traveling abroad to return home.

Turkish media reported that the education ministry fired 15,200 teachers across the country, while the interior ministry dismissed nearly 9,000 workers. Another 1,500 in the finance ministry were fired, as were hundreds more in the religious affairs directorate, the family and social policy ministry and prime minister’s office. The country’s higher education board demanded the resignations of 1,577 university deans.

The firings came in addition to about 9,000 people Ankara has detained for suspected involvement in the attempted overthrow of President Erdogan’s government.