More than 50,000 people are on President Erdogan's purge list

(Baonghean.vn) - NJuly 19,Türkiye has vowed to root out allies of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen after the failed coup on July 15, expanding the scope of the purge to schools, intelligence agencies and religious institutions.

More than 50,000 people are on President Erdogan's purge list. Photo: Reuters.

On July 19, the Turkish government closed down media outlets of clerics operating in the country.

At the same time, the government said, 15,000 people from the Ministry of Education were suspended along with 100 intelligence officials.

In addition, more than 492 people at the Religious Affairs Bureau, 257 people at the Prime Minister's Office and 300 others at the Ministry of Energy were forced to resign.

Since the coup, some 50,000 soldiers, police, judges, civil servants and teachers have been suspended or detained, raising tensions across the country of 80 million people.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told parliament on July 19, "The followers of Fethullah Gulen will no longer be present in this country. We will eradicate this terrorist organization."

President Tayyip Erdogan's spokesman said the Turkish government is preparing a formal request to the United States to extradite Gulen, the man believed to have masterminded the failed coup that killed at least 232 people.

In a phone call between US President Barack Obama and President Erdogan on July 19, Mr. Obama said that the Ankara government should exercise restraint on the Gulen issue.

Fethullah Gulen, a 75-year-old cleric who is currently living in exile in Pennsylvania, USA but still has a network of supporters in Türkiye, has been accused by the Turkish government of carrying out the coup on the night of July 15./.

Thanh Hien

(According to Reuters)