PURGE, POLITICS, AND HUNGER

Report: Four Years On, Still No Remedy For Turkey’s Purge Victims

Four years after the enactment of the first government decree to dismiss public workers, the situation has only grown unbearable for 150,000 people amid a lack of prospect for a remedy.

Turkey’s academics and students protest a crackdown on a well-known university in Istanbul in this archived photo taken after the 2016 coup attempt.

On July 20, 2016, the Turkish government declared a state of emergency to rule the country with emergency decrees without the need for parliamentary approval. It was presented as an essential measure to fight back the threat against the government five days after an abortive coup. But what emerged since then has only cemented an unwritten emergency regime, even two years after its official end, with no prospect of remedy for 150,000 or so people who were summarily discharged from their jobs in public service without any semblance of due process. The social cost of the post-coup purge, a report reveals, has been tremendous for its far-reaching consequences for thousands.

On Monday, the Platform of Justice For Victims released a comprehensive report documenting the sheer size of the human rights abuses, the problems that purge victims have faced during a job search, the social alienation and denial of access to housing, and many other…