page_title: 2016–present purges in Turkey
section_title: Europe
hierarchical_section_title: 2016–present purges in Turkey / Reactions / Europe
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Am 21. Mai 2017, auf der Bühne des Schauspiel Frankfurt bei der Solidaritäts-Matinee für Deniz Yücel und inhaftierte Journalistinnen und Journalisten in der Türkei.
context_page_description: The 2016–present purges in Turkey is a series of purges by the government of Turkey enabled by a state of emergency in reaction to the 15 July failed coup d'état. 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, 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.
  Tens of thousands of public servants and soldiers were purged in the first week following the coup. For example, on 16 July 2016, just one day after the coup was foiled, 2,745 judges were dismissed and detained.
context_section_description: Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders said Turkish authorities' reaction to the failed coup needed to be "proportionate," and that he was alarmed by the arrests of judges and calls for reinstatement of the death penalty against coup participants.
  French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault voiced concern, warning against a "political system which turns away from democracy" in response to the purges.
  British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson described the Gülen movement as a "cult" and expressed his support for the post-coup purges. Johnson said: "what happened in July [2016] was deeply violent, deeply anti-democratic, deeply sinister and it was totally right that it was crushed."
caption: Free Deniz Yücel campaign in Frankfurt, 21 May 2017
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