Ankara issues arrest warrants for over 100 teachers

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) - Turkish judicial authorities in the capital Ankara issued arrest warrants for 107 teachers in the latest phase of an ongoing crackdown since last year's failed coup.

Police detained 51 of the teachers accused of having ties with a US-based opponent and one-time ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in operations across the capital.

The teachers had earlier been formerly employed by the Ministry of Education until their dismissal with government decrees.

Erdogan and his government accuse cleric Fethullah Gulen --who used to have a large number of followers within the judiciary, bureaucracy and the army-- of being the mastermind of the botched military coup in July 2017.

Operations to arrest remaining teachers were ongoing, reported the privately-owned Dogan news agency.

The coup attempt saw the killing of about 250 civilians on the night of July 16 and following hours in the morning of the next day.

Gulen, in self-exile in the US state of Pennsylvania since 1999, has denied any connection with the putschists who invoked the founder of the republic Kemal Ataturk's name and ideals as their reasoning for the attempt to dislodge Erdogan from power.

The aftermath of the putsch has seen the jailing of over 50 thousand people while more than 150 thousand others, including army personnel, teachers, academics, and public servants, have been sacked or suspended from their jobs, according to Reuters figures.

Last year, the crackdown also led to the government dismissal of 12 thousand teachers in one night in Kurdish-majority provinces over alleged ties with "terrorist groups."

Editing by Sam A.