Turkey Purges Much of Education System in Post-Coup Crackdown

Every University Dean in Turkey Fired for Gulen Links

Turkey’s effort to impose a wholesale purge on broad swathes of their society after the Friday coup attempt has shifted to the education system, with a significant chunk of the Turks employed in education finding themselves sacked or their licenses revoked.

Some 21,000 teachers working at private schools around the country have lost their licenses, with the Educaiton Ministry claiming they’d gotten “tip-offs” that the teachers were “linked with terrorist activities,” leading to the move.

Early morning reports that some 1,350 university deans had been sacked were later revised upwards to “all,” as the Education Ministry decided that every single dean at every single university, public or private, had to go.

Officials claimed an ongoing investigation alleging that employees of schools around the country had “links” to the Gulen Movement, though it hardly seems possible that it could be every single person at every single school. That is adding to concerns of dramatic overreach by Turkey as the purge continues to grow.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.