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Turkey dismisses 87 members of national intelligence agency

Turkey dismisses 87 members of national intelligence agency

By REUTERS

European Union (left) and Turkish flags fly outside a hotel in Istanbul, Turkey, on May 4, 2016. Reuters

ISTANBUL: Turkish authorities have dismissed 87 members of the National Intelligence Agency (MIT), state-run Anadolu agency reported on Tuesday, on suspected links with the US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen blamed by Ankara of organising a failed coup in July.

Criminal complaints have been filed against 52 of the 87 expelled from public service. A total of 141 MIT personnel had been suspended following the abortive putsch of July 15 and investigations on 100 of them have now been completed, Anadolu said.