# Emergency decree-laws begin mass dismissals in the civil service, army, and education

Date: 2016

## The fact

From late July 2016 emergency decree-laws (KHK) dismissed tens of thousands from the army, police, judiciary, universities, and schools, and closed media and associations, citing Gülenist links.

## Context

Decree-laws were published in the Official Gazette under the emergency. Recipients could later apply to an inquiry commission. [Erdoğan](/people/recep-tayyip-erdogan) signed the political weather; the Gazette carried the lists; agencies implemented. He did not personally tick every name.

The 20 July emergency is a different date.

The president of Turkey is head of state and, since the 2017 executive-presidency reform, head of government. The Grand [National Assembly](/organizations/national-assembly) writes statutes; the Official Gazette records decrees; courts, governors, and the armed forces implement. He does not write a European Council conclusion, an IMF programme, or a UN General Assembly resolution.

## Evidence and sources

Official Gazette of Turkey carries the official instrument or communique. Reuters records the same dated act independently.

## Significance

The path is [democratic-resilience](/drivers/democratic-resilience) and justice: mass administrative dismissals without ordinary trial are a completed civic-closure instrument.

## What is established and what is not

Established: Gazette KHKs from late July 2016 dismissing public employees and closing outlets, independently reported.

Not established: that every named person was a coup plotter, or a unique later unemployment coefficient from the first KHK hour.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date or name, a later repeal, a court that vacated the instrument, or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of later institutions.

The date is the date of this instrument, not a licence to back-date every later harm or benefit.

The Gazette published. Agencies implemented lists.. A later repeal, court stay, or successor order would be a different Fact with a different date. That pair identifies Emergency decree-laws begin mass dismissals in the civil service, army, and education, not a later speech about Emergency decree-laws begin mass dismissals in the civil service, army, and education.

Co-authors and later implementers named in Context remain on the file. Emergency decree-laws begin mass dismissals in the civil service, army, and education on 2016-07-23 is not a licence to treat every later Official Gazette of Turkey communique as this same act. If a later repeal, stay, or successor decree exists, it needs its own date and its own row. This dossier refuses to average Emergency decree-laws begin mass dismissals in the civil service, army, and education into a personality. The contribution described on this Person row is limited to He politically owned the decree-law campaign. The Gazette published. Agencies implemented lists. That limit is the alternative to treating office-holding as authorship of every later series. The Grand National Assembly, the Official Gazette, governors, courts, and foreign counterparties share specific files. Allegation is not a completed judgment. A detention is not a conviction.

Emergency Decree 667 was published on 23 July 2016 after the declaration of the state of emergency. The decree authorized closures and measures affecting public personnel and institutions. Venice Commission opinion CDL-AD(2016)037 reviewed Decree Laws Nos. 667-676 and raised concerns about mass dismissals, individualized evidence, review and legal remedies.

## People

- Recep Tayyip Erdoğan: https://factrail.ai/people/recep-tayyip-erdogan

## Drivers

- State Repression: https://factrail.ai/drivers/state-repression
- Democratic Resilience: https://factrail.ai/drivers/democratic-resilience
- Judicial independence erosion (court capture): https://factrail.ai/drivers/justice-judicial-independence-erosion

## Sources

- https://www.venice.coe.int/webforms/documents/default.aspx?pdffile=CDL-REF%282016%29061-e
- https://www.venice.coe.int/webforms/documents/default.aspx?pdffile=CDL-AD%282016%29037-e
- https://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkey-security-idUSKCN1030ON
- https://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/tr-khk-decrees-2016