ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey said it had dismissed a further 10,000 civil servants and closed 15 more media outlets over suspected links with terrorist organizations and U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, blamed by Ankara for orchestrating a failed coup in July. Turkey declared a state of emergency soon after the July 15 coup attempt allowing the government to rule by decree with limited parliamentary involvement. Such decrees have been used to suspend or dismiss more than 100,000 people from the public sector over suspected links to what the government calls terror organizations. Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999, denies any involvement. The executive decrees have ordered the closure of 15 more newspapers, wires and magazines, which report from the largely Kurdish southeast, bringing the total number of media outlets and publishers closed since July to nearly 160. The latest decrees also abolished elections for university presidents, who will now be directly chosen by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from among three candidates presented by Turkey's Council of Higher Education. Though critics condemn the state of emergency and allies urge Turkey restraint in its post-coup crackdown, the government extended the 90-day state of emergency for another 90 days earlier this month with Erdogan having hinted earlier that it could be extended to over a year.
Turkey dismisses another 10,000 civil servants and closes 15 more media outlets for alleged ties to terrorist organizations and cleric Fethullah Gülen.