UPDATE - 107,174 state workers sacked since defeated 2016 coup

UPDATE WITH MORE REMARKS BY BOZDAG

By Muhammet Emin Avundukluoglu

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey’s deputy prime minister said on Wednesday that since the defeated 2016 coup carried out by the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), over 107,000 state personnel have been dismissed over alleged ties to the group.

"The number of personnel dismissed through statutory decrees is 110,778, and the number of reinstated people is 3,604," leading to a net total of 107,174 dismissed, Bekir Bozdag told parliament’s Interior Commission.

FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, which left 250 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.

"To date, a total of 105,151 people have applied to the State of Emergency Procedures Investigation Commission," in the wake of the defeated coup, said Bozdag.

Out of rulings on 1,562 people, the commission ruled in favor of 41 cases, and otherwise against.

The commission was established to allow civil servants to appeal legal action taken against them under the state of emergency following the coup attempt.

Bozdag said that there are no people in prison who were led unwittingly to ByLock, an encrypted smartphone app used by the terrorist FETO.

"The unjust suffering of our citizens who were aggrieved by FETO is not continuing," said Bozdag.

ByLock was used by FETO members to communicate during and after the defeated coup.

Since the discovery of nearly 11,500 smartphone users who were directed to ByLock without their knowledge, their names have been removed from lists of users and courts were told to re-examine cases.