Turkey to release 38,000 prisoners from jails to make room for thousands of coup plotters

Turkey is set to release 38,000 prisoners that are currently in jail in an apparent move to make space for those who plotted last month's coup. According to DailyMail, Turkish justice minister Bekir Bozdag wrote on Twitter that the prisoners would be under freed as part of a
'supervised release'.

It comes as Turkey already has an overstretched prison population but has arrested more than 35,000 people in connection with a failed coup attempt in the country.

The decree also said authorities would release inamtes who have displayed good behaviour and have two years or less to serve of their sentences.

However, people convicted for murder, domestic violence, sexual abuse or crimes against the state will be excluded from the scheme.

 

                                     Turkish justice minister Bekir Bozdag

However, Mr Bozdag did insist that an early release was not a pardon or an amnesty.

News of the prisoner release comes as the country also announced it would be dismissing more than 2,000 police officers and hundreds of members of the military over last month's power grab.

Those dismissed were described as having links to U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of orchestrating the failed putsch . Gulen denies involvement in the coup.

The decree published in the country's Official Gazette, also included a decision to close the TIB telecoms authority and another decision under which the president will appoint the head of the armed forces.

Under previous emergency rule decrees, Turkey had already dismissed thousands of security force members as well as ordering the closure of thousands of private schools, charities and other institutions suspected of links to Gulen.

The latest dismissals included 2,360 police officers, more than 100 military personnel and 196 staff in the BTK technology authority, according to the decrees, issued under a three-month state of emergency which came into force on July 21.

Alongside tens of thousands of civil servants suspended or dismissed, more than 35,000 people have been detained in a massive purge since the failed coup. 

It came when a group of rogue soldiers commandeered tanks, warplanes and helicopters in an attempt to overthrow the government.