Turkey’s Ministry of Education has announced that 6,007 teachers who were previously suspended from duty as part of ongoing terror investigations would return to work starting from Monday.
The teachers were suspended upon an investigation opened after the July 15 coup attempt perpetrated by a small Gulenist junta embedded within the ranks of the Turkish military.
The ministry said that the vast majority of the teachers who will return to their duties were members of the Egitim-Sen union. However, it said that not all inquiries about the teachers had been finalized.
Diyarbakır is the province with the most teachers returning to duty.
In the southeastern province 2,253 teachers, whose cases were finalized, will be returning to their classrooms on Monday. The teachers received the good news after passing an inspection by the Superintendent Board.
2,186 teachers in Diyarbakır are still under suspension over terrorism-links.
In eastern Van province, 466 teachers who were suspended for alleged links to FETO will also return to duty Monday.
Van Provincial Director of National Education Kıyasettin Kırekin said that 466 teachers out of a total of 733 were no longer suspended.
FETO faces heightened scrutiny after being accused of attempting to topple the democratically elected Turkish government in the July 15 coup attempt, in which 246 people were killed and 2,200 were injured.
