ISTANBUL -- Turkey's defense ministry has suspended or dismissed another 310 military personnel as part of an ongoing investigation into the movement allegedly responsible for July's failed coup.

The ministry tweeted Sunday that 168 officers and 123 non-commissioned officers have been suspended from the navy, while 15 officers and four non-commissioned officers were dishonorably discharged.

More than 4,200 military personnel had been dismissed by the ministry since the failed coup on July 15 which killed more than 270 people.

Close to 37,000 people have been arrested, more than 100,000 people dismissed or suspended from government jobs, and 170 media outlets and scores of businesses and associations have been shut down over alleged ties to a movement led by Fethullah Gulen, the U.S.-based Muslim cleric whom Turkey accuses of masterminding the failed coup. </s> ANKARA, Turkey, Nov. 13 (UPI) -- Some 300 Turkish naval officers have been suspended or dismissed as part of a government crackdown of people suspected of having ties to a failed government coup in July.

The Turkish Defense Ministry, which effected the suspensions and firings, announced them Sunday, PressTV reported.

Those accused of following U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen were the ones affected. Government officials in Ankara believe Gulen's followers incited the July coup.

The firings and suspensions included 168 commissioned and 123 non-commissioned officers. Another 15 commissioned and four non-commissoned officers were fired.

More than 240 people died and another 2,200 others were injured during the coup attempt July 15, Middle East Monitor reported.

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The announcement came just three days after 35 pilots were arrested,also for suspected links to the Gulen movement.

Bestami Tezcan, chief public prosecutor of Konya Province, had issued warrants for the arrest of 55 pilots, 54 who were serving, and a retired colonel, earlier in the day.

In all, the Turkish Defense Ministry has dismissed over 4,200 military personnel since the coup attempt, along with teachers, doctors, nurses and others suspected of having ties to Gulen.

Renegade Turkish military personnel declared themselves in charge of the nation on the evening of July 15. They rolled battle tanks down the streets and flew helicopters to fight those standing with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling AK Party in the capital Ankara and Istanbul. </s> ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish police say some 12,800 police officers have been suspended from duty over their suspected links to U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen's movement, accused by Turkey of masterminding the failed July 15 coup.

In a statement posted on its website Tuesday, the Turkish police headquarters said 2,523 of those suspended were police chiefs.

The move comes a day after the Cabinet extended by a further three months a state of emergency declared after the coup, which has facilitated the government's massive crackdown on Gulen's movement.

Tens of thousands of people have been dismissed or suspended from government jobs including in the military, police, judiciary and the education ministry. Around 32,000 people have been arrested for alleged links to the failed coup.

Gulen has denied involvement in the coup attempt. </s> ISTANBUL -- Turkey's state-run news agency says 10,131 more civil servants have been dismissed for alleged ties to terrorism while 15 mostly pro-Kurdish media outlets also have been shut down.

The dismissals were announced in the latest governmental decree issued over the weekend.

Turkey declared a state of emergency following the July 15 coup attempt allowing the government to rule by decree. It has since suspended tens of thousands of people from civil service over suspected links to terrorist organizations.

The latest dismissals include 2,534 personnel from the Justice Ministry, 2,219 from the Education Ministry, 2,774 from the Health Ministry, 1,267 from higher education institutions and 101 from the armed forces.

The same decree also shut down 15 mostly pro-Kurdish media outlets on similar grounds. </s> Turkish authorities have suspended 12,801 police officers from duty, police headquarters said on Tuesday, over their suspected links with U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen and his network, blamed by Ankara for orchestrating a failed coup in July.

Of the total removed, 2,523 were police chiefs, the statement said. In a post-coup crackdown, Turkey has already sacked or suspended more than 100,000 civil servants, teachers, judges, prosecutors and others. </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> Turkey has suspended almost 13,000 police officers, more than 5 per cent of the country’s entire police force, over suspected links to Fethullah Gulen, a United States-based cleric blamed by Ankara for orchestrating a failed coup attempt.

Al Jazeera said in a brief statement, the Turkish police headquarters said that 2,523 of the 12,801 suspended were police chiefs.

The officers suspended “have been assessed to have communications or links to the Gulenist Terror Organisation, identified as a threat to national security”, the police statement said.

The government blames the July 15 failed coup bid on Gulen, though he denies the charges.

According to the state-run Anadolu Agency, 37 people working in the interior ministry’s headquarters had also been removed from their posts. </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> Turkish authorities suspended nearly 13,000 police officers, detained dozens of air force officers and shut down a TV station on Tuesday, widening a state-ordered clampdown against perceived enemies in the wake of July’s failed coup.

The police headquarters said 12,801 officers, including 2,523 chiefs, had been suspended because of their suspected links to US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of orchestrating the attempt to overthrow the government.

Mr Gulen, who lives in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania, denies any link to the putsch which has shaken the country and led to the deaths of more than 240 people.

The suspensions came hours after deputy prime minister Numan Kurtulmus announced that the cabinet had approved a 90-day extension to a state of emergency, renewing president Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s powers to govern by decree at least until January.

The emergency measures, if approved by parliament, mean Mr Erdogan can take decisions without oversight of the constitutional court, Turkey’s highest legal body.

As well as suspending about five per cent of the entire police force, the authorities detained 33 air force officers in raids across the country, the private Dogan news agency reported, and the transmission of TV station IMC was cut following accusations of spreading “terrorist propaganda”.

State-run Anadolu Agency said 37 people working in the interior ministry’s headquarters had also been removed from their posts, although no explanation was given.

Since July 15th, Mr Erdogan has taken unprecedented steps to rid state institutions of staff deemed disloyal or potential enemies. About 100,000 people in the military, civil service, police, judiciary and universities have been sacked or suspended from their jobs, and 32,000 have been arrested.

The government says its aim is to rid institutions of links to Mr Gulen, whose organisation it calls a terrorist network. Mr Gulen, a former ally of Mr Erdogan, denies any involvement in the coup attempt.

One of the police officers suspended on Tuesday, a 26-year-old man, killed himself in a park in the Mediterranean city of Mersin, Dogan reported.

The relentless crackdown has caused consternation among Turkey’s Western allies and human rights groups, who fear Mr Erdogan is using the unsuccessful coup as a pretext to curtail any dissent, while at the same time intensifying his moves against suspected Kurdish militant sympathisers.

In August, Turkish forces launched an offensive into northern Syria in support of rebels fighting against Islamic State, also known as Isis, creating a security corridor along the Turkey-Syria border that also appears designed to push Kurdish militia away.

Prime minister Binali Yildirim warned on Tuesday that the YPG Kurdish militia, which is backed by the US, was filling a vacuum left by Islamic State and said Turkish forces were prepared to go after Kurdish fighters in the same way.

“We know how to cleanse the PYD/YPG, just as we cleansed Daesh from Jarablus,” he said, referring to Islamic State.

Ankara fears Kurdish militants fighting for greater autonomy in Turkey could benefit from turmoil in the region.

In a further sign of the government’s desire to move rapidly to quell domestic opposition, Mr Yildirim said the country’s judicial process needed to be speeded up, especially when it came to prosecuting those accused of backing the coup.

“One of the main goals is shortening the time it takes to prosecute people,” he said at an economic conference. “We are starting this with the July 15th coup plotters. We are doing this quickly.”

While Turkey cracks down at home and expands its footprint in Syria, it also wants the US to extradite Mr Gulen so he can be prosecuted on charges that he masterminded the failed insurrection.

On Sunday, Turkish counter-terrorism police detained Mr Gulen’s brother in Izmir, where he was staying at a relative’s house. Several of Mr Gulen’s relatives, including a nephew, niece and cousins, have been arrested since July 15th.

While Mr Erdogan’s security clampdown may be bolstering his own authority, it has had economic repercussions, with credit ratings agencies downgrading the country’s debt to “junk” and the Turkish lira weakening against the dollar.

On Tuesday, Mr Yildirim lowered the growth outlook for 2016, saying the economy was likely to expand 3.2 per cent, well below an original 4.5 per cent forecast, while inflation for the year is set to hit 7.5 per cent.
The Turkish Defense Ministry announces about 300 Turkish naval officers, suspected of having ties to the failed government coup, have been suspended or dismissed.