50,000 Hit by Turkey’s Still-Growing Purge

Turkey’s government continues to widen its pot-coup purge, hitting an every growing portion of society with detentions, firings, and the loss of licenses. Some 50,000 people have been swept up at this point, with no sign of it slowing down.

Indeed, the signs point to the purge expanding even further, with Erdogan chairing a security council meeting that imposed a three month “state of emergency” above and beyond all the other steps taken. What that will ultimately mean remains uncertain.

It’s nothing good though for those tapped as conspirators, or even members of suspect professions. Turkey has imposed a full travel ban on all “academics” in the country, insisting that anyone employed by any of the nation’s universities poses a “flight risk” as a possible accomplice of the coup. Turkey already fired every single dean from every university, public or private, as part of the post-coup crackdown.

The broad scope of the crackdown has fueled growing international criticism, though this has just led to angry condemnations from the Turkish government, and allegations from the Foreign Ministry that critics are themselves “supporters” of the failed coup.