Ankara, Turkey. After the recent consolidation of power by Turkish President Erdogan, Turks are now finding out just what total power means, as Erdogan now goes on purge upon purge through all levels of society after people he percieves as enemies.
Turkey on Saturday fired more than 3,900 people from the government and military as threats to national security, in the second major purge since President Erdogan has consolodated power.
The removals carried out in conjunction with media restrictions, affected prison guards, clerks, academics and 1,200 members of the armed forces including nearly 600 of them military officers.
Erdogan seized power after a referendum in mid-April, which rights groups and some Western allies believe has brought the country, a NATO-member and European Union candidate, closer to being run by a dictator.
Just this past Wednesday, more than 9,000 police were suspended and another 1,000 detained for alleged links to the network of the American cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Erdogan blames for a coup attempt last July.
In all, some 120,000 people have been suspended or fired from their jobs and more than 40,000 arrested in the aftermath of the failed putsch, which killed 240 people, mostly civilians.
A number of activists point to these actions against Turkish citizens as proof that Turkey has now gone into a state of chaos with a dictator in control of the nation. The silence from Washington and Brussels on the anti-democratic actions is becomming painfully acute to human rights advocates worldwide.