ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey's president says the dismissal of 28 elected municipal and district mayors in several predominantly Kurdish towns in the country's east and southeast was overdue.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said after prayers at the start of the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday Monday that it should have been done earlier in line with his own wishes.

The removed officials, replaced by government-appointed deputy and district governors, are suspected of colluding with groups the Turkish government considers terrorist organizations.

Turkey's Interior Ministry said the decision was in line with the state of emergency decreed after the failed July 15 military coup attempt. </s> Alwaght- Turkey has sacked more than 4,400 civil servants, as the post-coup purge continues since July 2016.

Court clerks, teachers, police officers and academics, computer experts were among 4,464 dismissed over alleged links to failed mid- July coup which Turkey blames on US-based opposition leader Fethullah Gulen.

The decree showed late on Tuesday, in the latest purge since the military coup which climed lives of over 240 people.

The dismissals drew criticism, with main opposition CHP lawmaker Sezgin Tanrikulu saying Turkey's long-established universities were being destroyed.

Turkey has already removed or suspended more than 125,000 people and formally arrested 40,000 since the attempted coup during which rogue soldiers tried to overthrow the government and Erdogan.

The government says the action is justified by the nature of the threat to the state.

The crackdown has covered a wide range of professions from civil servants and soldiers to medics. Dismissals are announced in the Official Gazette with no reasons given beyond "membership of, or links to, terrorist organizations or groups deemed to be acting against national security interests".

Rights groups and some European countries have said Erdogan is using the current state of emergency to quash dissent. Ankara says the measures are necessary to root out supporters of the putsch and other terrorists. </s> People walk in the streets near Taksim Square in Istanbul after an attempted coup in Turkey, July 16, 2016. — Reuters picISTANBUL, Feb 8 — The Turkish authorities have ordered the dismissal of nearly 4,500 civil servants in the latest wave of a purge after last July's attempted coup, according to a decree published on Thursday.

The Official Gazette said 4,464 people had been fired, including 2,585 employees of the education ministry, 893 members of the gendarmerie and 88 workers at the public television channel TRT.

The sackings included 330 academics who were members of the Higher Council for Teaching (YOK), including a leading specialist on constitutional law, Ibrahim Kaboglu.

The authorities had already arrested more than 41,000 people, and fired or suspended 100,000, after the July 15 attempted coup. Many are teachers, police, magistrates or journalists.

On January 7, the government announced the dismissal of nearly 8,400 civil servants and the closure of 80 associations, including sports clubs.

The dismissals are authorised by the cabinet and require no parliamentary approval under the state of emergency, which has twice been extended and is now due to last until April 19.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blames the attempt to overturn him on a US-based Muslim preacher, Fethullah Gulen, who, he says, is being secretly supported by followers in Turkey.

The scale of the crackdown has been fiercely criticised by the European Union and human rights activists.

The failed putsch that left 248 people dead, not including the plotters, and thousands more wounded. — AFP </s> ANKARA: Turkey dismissed 4,464 public servants, more than half from the Education Ministry, in a decree published on Tuesday, extending a purge of state

officials following a failed coup in July.

Turkey has sacked or suspended more than 125,000 officials since the coup attempt, and formally arrested some 40,000 people from the military, police and other sectors.

Turkey dismisses more than 4,000 public servants in new decree was posted in World of TheNews International - https://www.thenews.com.pk on February 08, 2017 and was last updated on February 08, 2017. This news story is related to Latest/184762-Turkey-dismisses-more-than-4000-public-servants-in-new-decree/ - breaking news, latest news, pakistan ne. Permanent link to the news story "Turkey dismisses more than 4,000 public servants in new decree " is https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/184762-Turkey-dismisses-more-than-4000-public-servants-in-new-decree. </s> Turkey dismisses more than 4,000 public servants in new decree - official gazette

ANKARA, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Turkey dismissed 4,464 public servants, more than half from the Education Ministry, in a decree published on Tuesday, extending a purge of state officials following a failed coup in July.

Turkey has sacked or suspended more than 125,000 officials since the coup attempt, and formally arrested some 40,000 people from the military, police and other sectors. </s> Turkey dismissed 4,464 public servants, more than half from the Education Ministry, in a decree published on Tuesday, extending a purge of state officials following a failed coup in July.

Turkey has sacked or suspended more than 125,000 officials since the coup attempt, and formally arrested some 40,000 people from the military, police and other sectors. </s> Turkey has dismissed more than 4,400 civil servants including teachers, police officers and academics over their suspected links with terrorist organisations, a decree showed late on Tuesday, in the latest purge since a failed coup last July. Ibrahim Kaboglu, a prominent constitution professor who has expressed opposition to planned constitutional changes giving President Tayyip Erdogan greater executive powers, was among those ousted under the decree published in the Official Gazette.

Court clerks, computer experts and librarians were also among 4,464 sacked, part of a crackdown since the July coup bid which Turkey says was carried out by U.S.-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen. Gulen denies the allegation. The dismissals drew criticism on social media, with main opposition CHP lawmaker Sezgin Tanrikulu saying on Twitter that Turkey’s long-established universities were being destroyed.

Turkey has already removed or suspended more than 125,000 people and formally arrested 40,000 since the attempted coup during which rogue soldiers tried to overthrow the government and Erdogan, killing more than 240 people, most of them civilians. The government says the action is justified by the nature of the threat to the state.

The crackdown has covered a wide range of professions from civil servants and soldiers to medics. Dismissals are announced in the Official Gazette with no reasons given beyond “membership of, or links to, terrorist organisations or groups deemed to be acting against national security interests”.

Rights groups and some European countries have said Erdogan is using the current state of emergency to quash dissent. Ankara says the measures are necessary to root out supporters of the putsch and other terrorists. Among the 330 academics dismissed were those who signed a petition last year criticising military action in the restive southeast against Kurdish militants. Erdogan had said the academics would pay a price for their “treachery”.

Hundreds of civilians, members of the security forces and militants have been killed since the conflict with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) reignited in July 2015 in the worst violence Turkey has seen for 20 years. The PKK is designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. </s> Under new system he will have full executive powers

Recep Tayyip Erdogan is being sworn in as president of Turkey after his election victory last month which allowed him to keep his post with increased powers.

The inauguration ceremony on Monday was scheduled to be attended by dozens of foreign leaders and dignitaries, including Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

The event in the capital, Ankara, concludes the transition from a parliamentary system to an executive presidency, in line with the constitutional changes approved in a referendum last year.

Under the new system, 64-year-old Erdogan will lead the state’s executive branch and have the right to appoint and remove vice-presidents, a newly introduced position, as well as ministers, high-level officials and senior judges – without parliamentary approval.

The president will also have the power to dissolve parliament, issue executive decrees and impose a state of emergency. The prime ministry will not exist in the new system. </s> President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has arrived in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey to swear in as the country's first president under the new executive presidency system.

Erdoğan will take the presidential oath in Parliament and step inside the Beştepe Presidential Complex in Ankara to serve the nation for the next five years.

The oath will also initiate the new presidential executive system, transitioning from the parliamentary system, which was approved in a referendum on constitutional amendments on April 16 of last year. Erdoğan will now become both the head of state and government, with the prime minister's post abolished.

Following the oath-taking ceremony, Erdoğan will visit Anıtkabir, the mausoleum of Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. The man accustomed to winning every election since establishing the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) in 2001, Erdoğan also claimed victory in the June 24 elections with 52.59 percent, surpassing his closest rival, the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) candidate Muharrem İnce, by more than 20 percentage points.

The momentous ceremony in the history of Turkish politics is expected to be attended by 22 presidents, 17 prime ministers and other high-level state officials from countries invited, in addition to many significant figures from the business, arts and sports worlds.

The presidents of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Georgia, Guinea, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Pakistan, Somalia, Ukraine, Venezuela and Zambia are among those expected to be present. Families of fallen soldiers and veterans are also expected to attend the ceremony, where 3,000 individuals have been invited.
Turkey purges more than 18,500 government workers a day before Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is sworn in as executive president.