Turkey Bans Academics From Foreign Travel, Blocks Wikileaks

In addition to blocking Wikileaks, Turkish authorities put a ban on academics from leaving the country. (Photo: Reuters)

ANKARA (Reuters)””Turkey’s High Board of Education has banned all academics from travelling abroad until further notice, state-run broadcaster TRT reported on Wednesday, after an abortive military coup prompted a wide-ranging purge of state institutions.

The report, which provided no details about the ban, came a day after the board ordered the resignation of 1,577 deans at all universities across Turkey. In a separate move on Tuesday the education ministry also revoked the licenses of 21,000 teachers working in private institutions.

The government has accused a U.S.-based Muslim cleric of masterminding the attempted coup, in which more than 230 people were killed. The cleric, Fethullah Gulen, denies the accusation.

Turkey blocks access to WikiLeaks after ruling party email dump

Turkey has blocked access to the WikiLeaks website, the telecoms watchdog said on Wednesday, hours after it leaked thousands of ruling party emails just as Ankara grapples with the aftermath of a failed military coup.

Around 50,000 soldiers, police, judges and teachers have been suspended or detained since the attempted coup on the weekend, and Turkey’s Western allies have expressed concern over the crackdown’s reach.

WikiLeaks on Tuesday released nearly 300,000 emails from the AK Party dating from 2010 to July 6 this year. Obtained before the attempted coup, the date of their publication was brought forward “in response to the government’s post-coup purges,”