Another 10,000 civil servants fired in Turkey coup purge

Turkish authorities have fired over 10,000 additional civil servants as the government presses a crackdown over the failed July coup, the official gazette said.

A total of 10,131 government employees were removed, mainly from the education, justice and health ministries, according to announcements published late Saturday.

The government also announced the closure of 15 pro-Kurdish and other media outlets.

University rector elections have also been suspended, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan set to pick the winners from a pool of candidates selected by the nation's education authority.

The moves came three months after the government declared a state of emergency following a failed bid by a rogue faction of the army to oust Erdogan.

More than 35,000 people have been arrested since then, and many dozens of teachers, police officers and judges have either been suspended or fired.

Meanwhile, Erdogan has said he will ask parliament to consider reintroducing the death penalty.

Erdogan said he was "convinced" his proposal to punish those behind July's failed military coup would be approved.

"I am convinced that parliament will approve it, and when it comes back to me, I will ratify it," he said.

The death penalty was abolished in Turkey in 2004 as the nation sought accession to the European Union. However, in practice it had not been enacted since 1984.

Relations between Brussels and Ankara have been strained since Turkey responded to the coup by launching a relentless crackdown against alleged plotters in state institutions, amid calls from the EU to act within the rule of law.

He blamed US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen for the coup and his supporters who are known as the “Gulen movement”. It is critical of Mr Erdogan who they see as supporting a 'political Islam' rather than a 'cultural Islam' in his presidency.