Turkey fires over 2,700 public workers

Turkey said on Sunday that 2,756 people were dismissed from their jobs in public institutions including soldiers, teachers and ministry personnel over links to "terror" organizations.

The dismissed personnel were found to be members of, or linked to, "terror" groups, structures and entities that act against national security, according to a decree published in the Official Gazette.

Some 50,000 people have been arrested since a failed putsch in July last year and about 150,000 have been dismissed or suspended from their posts, including soldiers, police, teachers and public servants, over alleged links with the movement of U.S-based cleric Fethullah Gulen.

The government accused Gulen of organizing the attempted coup. Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999, has denied the accusation and condemned the coup.

Rights groups and some Western allies fear President Tayyip Erdogan is using the attempted coup as a pretext to stifle dissent.

Later Sunday, Prime MinisterBinaliYildirimsaid Turkeywould employ an additional110,000 public servants in 2018 including teachers, medical andreligious personnel.

Speaking in the southern border town ofKilis,Yildirimsaid the government would hire an extra 36,000medical personnel and 20,000 teachers.