Over 400 dismissed suspected Gulenists reinstated

Some 416 civil servants dismissed for suspected links to the Fethullah Gulen movement, which was accused of orchestrating the failed July 2016 coup attempt, will be reinstated, according to a new statutory decree, the official gazette said yesterday.

The statutory decree said that the employees have to begin work in 10 days to be reinstated. All of their financial and social rights that were lost after they were dismissed will also be reinstated.

The civil servants were suspected of being members of or having links to the Fetullah Organisation and include employees from the interior, health, justice and national defence ministries, as well as from the Turkish Armed Forces, General Directorate of Security, Directorate of Religious Affairs and other state institutions.

They were among thousands of public officials dismissed nationwide in the wake of the deadly July 15 coup attempt last year. Many other employees remain under investigation.

Led by US based Fetullah Gulen, the movement is accused of orchestrating the failed putsch coup plot as well as being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through infiltrating Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and the judiciary.