Turkish Airlines fires 211 over alleged ties to cleric

25 July 2016, 5:06 pm

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Turkish Airlines says it fired 211 employees over suspected links to US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen and behavior “conflicting with the interest of our country” in the wake of last week’s coup.

Turkey’s flag carrier says their contracts were terminated due to “the non-fulfillment of performance criteria and in line with the necessary actions we are taking against the FETO structure, attitudes and behavior conflicting with the interest of our country and company.”

The authorities accuse 75-year-old Gulen of running a group it labels the Fethullah Terror Organization (FETO) that was behind the coup, accusations he strongly denies.

— AFP