Turkey has dismissed 2,756 more people from their jobs in public institutions for alleged links to terror groups as Ankara presses ahead with purges launched following last year's failed military coup.
According to a government decree published in the Official Gazette on December 24, the dismissed employees include 637 military personnel, 360 gendarmerie force members, and 150 academics and other university workers.
Turkish authorities blame the July 2016 coup attempt on U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen.
Meanwhile, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on December 24 that 110,000 new public servants will be employed next year.
More than 110,000 people have been dismissed or suspended from their posts and some 50,000 have been arrested over alleged links to Gulen or militant groups in a crackdown since then.
Gulen denies involvement in the coup attempt, in which 240 people were killed.
The government argues the crackdown is necessary to counter the continuing danger posed by followers of Gulen's movement.
Rights groups say that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is using the attempted coup as a pretext to stifle dissent.