ISTANBUL Turkey dismissed more than 6,000 more police, civil servants and academics in decrees issued under emergency rule on Friday, continuing a purge in the wake of a failed coup attempt last July, the Hurriyet newspaper said.
The three decrees ordered the dismissal of 2,687 police officers, 1,699 officials from the justice ministry, 838 from the health ministry, 649 academics and 135 officials from the religious affairs directorate, Hurriyet said.
Parliament, dominated by the ruling AK Party, voted this week to extend emergency rule by another three months in a move the government said was needed to sustain a purge of supporters of U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen.
Turkey accuses Gulen and his network of supporters, which it terms the Gulenist Terror Organisation (FETO), of being behind the July 15 coup attempt. Gulen denies the allegations.
Emergency rule enables the government to bypass parliament in enacting new laws and to limit or suspend rights and freedoms when deemed necessary. It was imposed after the attempted coup and then extended for a second three-month period in October.
(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu and Daren Butler; Writing by Nick Tattersall)
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