ISTANBUL — Turkey’s state run news agency says close to 1,700 officers have been formally discharged from the military following the country’s failed coup.
Anadolu Agency also says the government has decided to close down dozens of media organizations, including 45 newspapers and 16 television stations.
The government says a U.S.-based Muslim cleric, Fethullah Gülen, is behind the failed uprising by a faction within the military that led to some 290 deaths on July 15. Thousands have been detained for suspected links to the coup. Tens of thousands have also been purged from state institutions.
The news has been met with considerable caution by other nations, including the United States. “We would see this … as a troubling trend in Turkey where official bodies, law enforcement and judicial, are being used to discourage legitimate political discourse,” State Department spokesman John Kirby told a press briefing.
CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA
DAVID ALEXANDER