Turkey sacks more than 7,000 government workers in latest decree

Turkey dismissed more than 7,000 police, civil servants and academics on Friday, the eve of the anniversary of last year's attempted coup.

A total of 7,563 people - including police - have been dismissed in the latest purge, the Anadolu news agency reported.

Turkish authorities also stripped 342 retired army personnel of their rank, Anadolu said. 

Earlier, Hurriyet daily reported that 7,348 people, including 2,303 police, were dismissed in total.

The new decree came a day before Turkey marks the first anniversary of a military-led bid to seize power from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. 

The latest decree is part of a crackdown triggered by the failed coup, which Turkey says was organised by US-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, a former ally of President Erdogan.

Gulen on Friday again denied any involvement in what he called a "despicable putsch," and called on Ankara to end its "witch hunt" of his followers.

"Accusations against me related to the coup attempt are baseless, politically motivated slanders," Gulen, who lives at a compound in rural Pennsylvania, said in a statement.

"I reiterate my condemnation of the despicable putsch and its perpetrators," he said, while decrying a government "witch hunt to weed out anyone it deems disloyal to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his regime".

In all, Turkey has sacked or suspended more than 150,000 officials, and arrested some 50,000 people from the military, police, judiciary, academia and other sectors.

More than 240 people, most of them civilians, were killed last July when rogue soldiers tried to overthrow Erdogan's government.