Purges in Turkey following the 2016 Turkish coup attempt

2016–present purges in Turkey
Part of AKP–Gülen movement conflict
Ankara Istanbul Purges in Turkey following the 2016 Turkish coup attempt (Turkey)
Date	16 July 2016 – ongoing (disputed)[1][2][3][4] (8 years, 6 months, 4 weeks and 2 days)
Location	Nationwide; cities with high civil servant populations (Ankara, Istanbul)
Status	Ongoing Over 160,000 judges, teachers, police and civil servants suspended or dismissed, together with about 77,000 formally arrested.[5][6][7]
Parties
Government of Turkey Turkish Armed Forces Turkish Land Forces Turkish Air Force Turkish Naval Forces Turkish Gendarmerie JİTEM Special Forces Command General Directorate of Security Riot Police Police Special Operation Department Ministry of Foreign Affairs National Defense Ministry of the Interior Gülen movement Stated supporters of Fethullah Gülen in civil service, education, journalism, judiciary and military Peace at Home Council Gülen movement and PKK supporters Later extended to opposition HDP and DEM Party supporters
Lead figures
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Binali Yıldırım Hulusi Akar Ümit Dündar Yaşar Güler Fethullah Gülen (alleged by Turkey)
Units involved
Loyalists of the Turkish Armed Forces[8] National Intelligence Organization Turkish parliament Judiciary in Turkey National Police
Casualties and losses
None Over 80,000 arrested or detained, 150,000 dismissed[9] (nearing 10% of public employees[10]) 15,846 detained[11] (10,012 soldiers, 1,481 judiciary members)[12][13] 8,133 of the detained had been arrested[14][15][16][17] 15 universities, 1,043 private schools, 1,229 charities and foundations, 19 trade unions, 35 medical institutions, 16 television channels, 23 radio stations, 45 daily newspapers, 15 magazines and 29 publishing houses were shut down.

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.^[1][2][3][4] 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, as well as civil servants and private citizens. These later actions reflected a power struggle between secularist and Islamist political elites in Turkey,^[18] 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.^[19]

Tens of thousands of public servants and soldiers were purged in the first week following the coup.^[20] For example, on 16 July 2016, just one day after the coup was foiled, 2,745 judges were dismissed and detained.^[21][22] This was followed by the dismissal, detention or suspension of over 100,000 officials,^[23][24][25] a figure that had increased to over 110,000 by early November 2016,^[26] over 125,000 after the 22 November decree,^[27] reaching at least 135,000 with the January decrees, about 160,000 after the suspensions and arrests decree of April 29^[28] and 180,000 after a massive dismissal decree in July 2018. Collectively about 10% of Turkey's 2 million public employees were removed as a result of the purges.^[10] Purged citizens are prevented from working again for the government, which has led in many cases to destitution.^[29]

In the business sector, the government forcefully seized assets of over a thousand companies, worth between $11 billion^[30] and $50–60 billion,^[31] on the charge of being related to Gülen and the coup.^[30][32] Goods and services produced by such companies were subject to boycott by the public.^[33]

The purges also extend to the media, with television channels, newspapers and other media outlets that were seen as critical of the government being shut down, critical journalists being arrested and Wikipedia being blocked, from April 2017 to January 2020.^{[34][35][36][37][38][39]} Since early September 2016, the post-coup emergency state extended to purging Kurdish groups,^[40] including the dismissal of over 11,000 Kurdish teachers^{[41][42][43][44][45][46]} and dozens of elected mayors^{[45][47][48][49]} and arrest of the co-chairs of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP)^[50][51][52] for alleged links with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).^[53] In August 2018, the Turkish Parliament approved a new "anti-terror" law to replace the state of emergency.^[54][55][56]