Turkey has suspended 12,801 police officers from duty over suspected ties with US-based opposition cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of having masterminded a July coup in the country.
The country’s law enforcement authorities announced the suspensions on Tuesday, saying they had followed an investigation of the police force by the Interior Ministry.
A day earlier, Ankara had also extended by three more months a state of emergency it brought into force after the failed coup.
“The decision on continuing the state of emergency [is] beginning on October 19,” said Turkish Deputy Prime Minister and government spokesman Numan Kurtulmus.