[58][59] From 2014 to mid-2016, repeated purges of civilian, military and judicial officials took place in Turkey, mainly aimed at followers of Fethullah Gülen, a former colleague of the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

[60] During the first post-coup speech Erdoğan could address to the nation upon landing at Atatürk airport, he said, "This uprising is a gift from God to us because this will be a reason to cleanse our army".

"[64] The New York Times described the purges as a "counter-coup" and expected Erdoğan to "become more vengeful and obsessed with control than ever, exploiting the crisis not just to punish mutinous soldiers but to further quash whatever dissent is left in Turkey".

[65] The United Nations have been reported as failing to condemn the coup and resulting violence, due to disagreement between Egypt and other Security Council members on the wording of a resolution in that direction.

[74] General Bekir Ercan Van, the commander of Incirlik Air Base, which the U.S. uses to carry out airstrikes against ISIL, was arrested by Turkish authorities for his stated role in plotting the failed military coup.

No violent action or call for violence was reported, the statement being based on an anonymous denunciation and the presence of ByLock on his smartphone, an application he denies having installed on his phone.

[83] Following the July 2016 attempt coup and first purges of the military, the Turkish government used the state of emergency to introduce amendments into Turkey's municipalities law.

[104] About one thousand scholars and human right experts who had earlier petitioned for the end of military operations in South East Turkey, Afrin and Syria have faced systematic punitive consequences via public agencies, including interrogations, judicial prosecutions, firing from jobs, arrests, trials and condemnations for "terrorist propaganda".

[115] In August 2016 Turkish President Erdoğan gave the United States an ultimatum, demanding the extradition of Fethullah Gülen, the cleric said to be behind the failed 15 July coup attempt.

[53] On 12 September 2016, Turkey removed two dozen elected mayors, members of the opposition Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), for stated links to Kurdish militants.

[127] On 29 October 2016, by decree, Turkey dismissed 10,131 more civil servants, while about 15 more media outlets were closed for stated ties to terrorist organizations and U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gülen.

[128][129] In early November 2016, security forces began mass arrests of opposition Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) MPs, including co-leaders Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ.

[142] On 5 June, the Turkish interior ministry announces that 130 people, living outside the country and suspected of militant links, will lose their citizenship unless they return to Turkey within three months and meet government standards.

Named suspects include U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gülen, and Peoples' Democratic Party leaders Faysal Sarıyıldız, Tuğba Hezer Öztürk, and Özdal Üçer [tr].

[178] On 29 January 2023, Turkey announced that it requested the extradition of 130 people suspected of being members of the Gülen movement and PKK in order for Finland and Sweden to approve them for NATO membership.

[188] On 24 July 2016, Amnesty International called for the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture to make an emergency visit to Turkey to see the conditions in which the detainees were held.

[191] The rewarded anonymous denunciation's grid is public and online, divided in 5 category according to the threat, and pointing to major suspects, mainly Kurds, then Gulenist, then Islamists (ISIS).

[189] Amnesty said that three hundred male soldiers held in the Ankara police headquarters were beaten during their detention, with injuries including bruises, cuts and broken bones.

[189] Given overcrowded conditions, the Turkish government published a decree on 16 August announcing that 38,000 inmates whose criminal offense pre-dated 1 July were now eligible for sentence reduction.

[198][199] Serdar Kuni, a doctor from Cizre, who assisted the respected Human Rights Foundation in documenting violations in the town, and arrested on poorly defined charges of "being a member of a terrorist organization" for treating injured locals.

[200] On 6 June 2017, Taner Kılıç, the Chair of Amnesty International Turkey, and another 22 lawyers were detained in İzmir by the Turkish police on the suspicion of having links with the Fethullah Gülen movement and later charged with "membership of a terrorist organisation".

While it is understandable, and legitimate, that the government wishes to investigate and punish those responsible for this bloody coup attempt, they must abide by the rule of law and respect freedom of expression.

[190] EU High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini condemned the purges, saying: "What we're seeing especially in the fields of universities, media, the judiciary, is unacceptable.

"[226] U.S. President Barack Obama said he was concerned by pictures showing the rough treatment of some of the arrested coup plotters, some of whom appeared stripped to their underwear and handcuffed behind their backs.

[237] The statement said: "While we understand the sense of crisis in Turkey, we are concerned that the government's steps to limit a broad range of human rights guarantees go beyond what can be justified in light of the current situation.

OHCHR said that the routine extensions of the state of emergency may lead to an enduring system of governing characterized by a large number of arbitrary decisions that profoundly affect the lives of many individuals and families.

[240] The government of Turkey has been analysed to blame Western forces and raise anti-Americanism in order to distract the public from real intranational tensions, as well as to take an upper ground for negotiations.

[241][242][243] According to the New York Times, "Searching for historical parallels, analysts have made comparisons with Joseph McCarthy's anti-Communist witch hunt in 1950s America, the Stalinist purges of the 1930s and the Cultural Revolution in China in the 1960s and '70s.

"[23] Other comparisons have been made with Hitler's use of the Reichstag fire to consolidate his power, and with Atatürk's use of the 1926 assassination plot on his life to purge Turkey of his political opponents and rivals.

[246] It has been argued that solid political position encourage leaders to crack down and double down on oppositions parties while less secure governing groups are more inclined into deescalation and appeasement.