Turkey suspends 15,000 education staff after coup

Education ministry says the suspensions were linked to the "Fethullah Terrorist Organisation"

ISTANBUL: More than 15,000 Turkish state education employees have been suspended after last week's attempted coup, the education ministry said on Tuesday.

"15,200 state employees have been suspended and an investigation has been launched into them," it said in a statement.

The ministry said the suspensions were linked to the "Fethullah Terrorist Organisation" (FETO), which is how it labels the loose network of followers of US-based clerik Fethullah Gulen, a foe of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Erdogan has laid the blame fully on Gulen and his followers, who have strongly denied any links to the putsch.



"There is an investigation into those linked to FETO," the ministry said, but did not give further details on what kind of employees were suspended.

The country's higher education board meanwhile demanded that 1,577 deans at universities resign, state-run news agency Anadolu reported on Tuesday.

Among the deans, 1,176 are from state universities while 401 deans work at private foundation universities, Anadolu said.

Turkey demands university deans' resignations https://t.co/t3S2zsVcyF pic.twitter.com/5Wb3YKHUwK

— Anadolu English (@anadoluagency) July 19, 2016

Since the failed putsch on Friday, around 9,000 people including police and government officials have been sacked.

Another 7,500 people have been detained including top generals accused of masterminding the plot.