Turkey to free 38,000 prisoners

Turkey plans to free 38,000 prisoners who have less than two years left on their sentence. The announcement is part of a decree made Wednesday, to make room in jails for the thousands of people it’s arrested in recent weeks for allegedly participating in a failed coup attempt.

Turkish justice minister Bekir Bozdag announced the decree in a series of tweets Wednesday morning. He cautioned that the releases are not pardons but rather conditional releases.

“This measure is not an amnesty. The punishment will be served outside through supervised released,” Bozdag said on Twitter. “I hope that the arrangement is beneficial to the prisoners, their loved ones, our people and our country,” the minister wrote.

In addition to those inmates with less than two years left on their sentence, prisoners who have served more than half of their sentences would be eligible for parole. The decree will not apply to inmates in jail on murder, terrorism, domestic abuse or sexual assault charges.

Crackdown following coup attempt

On July 15, at least 270 people were killed during a short-lived coup attempt the government claims was masterminded by U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fetullah Gulen and carried out by thousands of police officers and military personnel.

Following the failed coup attempt, the government announced a state of emergency and began rounding up people it accused of plotting the coup.

In all, more than 35,000 people— including judges, academics and journalists— have been detained for questioning, with more than 17,000 of those people formally arrested.

Bozdag did not specify any particular reasoning behind the decision, but the move will likely make room in Turkish jails for those convicted in the attempted coup.

Bozdag announced a second decree Wednesday that would remove 2,300 more officers from the police force, as well as 136 military officers and 196 government employees from its information technology authority.

The government’s post coup attempt crackdown has raised criticism from some European nations and human rights organizations who have urged Turkey to show restraint.