Over 5,000 cases brought against Turkey over post-coup purge: ECHR

PanARMENIAN.Net - The president of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on Thursday, January 26 announced that 5,363 cases filed by Turkish nationals have been lodged against Turkey over its crackdown in the wake of a failed coup last year, Deutsche Welle reports.

The "massive influx" of applications against Turkey after July 15 increased by 276 percent compared to the year before, ECHR President Guido Raimondi said.

An additional 2,945 cases had been filed by Turkish nationals last year, although not directly linked to the aftermath of the failed coup, bringing the total to more than 8,000 applications to the European court.

In the wake of the coup, Turkey launched a crackdown against alleged supporters of exiled Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, which targeted military officers as well as academics, journalists and academics.

More than 100,000 people have been suspended or fired from their jobs for alleged links to Gulen, who Ankara accused of orchestrating the putsch. Nearly 50,000 people have been arrested for alleged links to Gulen, according to authorities.