Turkey's emergency state body concludes 73% of appeals

By Sena Guler

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey’s presidential commission examining emergency state process said on Friday 73% applications concerning measures taken after a defeated coup attempt in July 2016 have been concluded.

Turkey's Inquiry Commission on the State of Emergency Measures in a report gave details of applications over measures adopted under the state of emergency decree-laws, such as the dismissal of public officials, scholarship cancellations, annulment of the ranks of retired personnel and the closure of some institutions.

The commission took nearly 132,000 measures, including 125,678 dismissals from public service over links to Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the terrorist group behind the defeated coup and a plot to infiltrate the Turkish state.

The commission started decision-making process in December 2017, and took over 92,000 decisions as of Oct. 25, said the report.

Some 8,100 of the applications were accepted, while 83,900 were rejected. There are 34,200 pending applications, according to the report.

"Decisions on 73% of the applications have been made within a period of 22 months since the beginning of the Commission’s decision-making process," it said.

A data processing infrastructure was set up in order to receive, archive, and examine applications in an electronic environment, the commission said, adding that information acquired from over 20 institutions and organizations was recorded in the system.

Some 250 staffers, including 80 rapporteurs -- judges, experts, and inspectors -- worked in the application review process.

A total of 487,000 files -- including personnel files transferred from relevant institutions, court files and former applications -- were classified, registered and archived.

The institutions, where the applicants most recently held office, were notified of the commission’s rulings, and they are due to re-appoint dismissed state employees whose applications were accepted.

Within 60 days starting from the notification date, the Council of Judges and Prosecutors may appeal an annulment action by the commission, the institution or organization where the applicant last held office, said the report.

The applicants can track their status on the commission's website.

Since the 2016 defeated coup attempt in Turkey, Turkish institutions, including the military, have been working to find and expel elements of FETO, the group behind the coup.

A two-year state of emergency -- which was declared following the July 15, 2016 defeated coup -- was lifted on July 20, 2018.

The coup attempt was orchestrated by FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen, which left 251 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.

Ankara also accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.