WITHIN days of the new school term starting in Turkey, there has been a mass axing of teachers within Aydin Province for alleged ties to exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen.

The Ministry of Education made the announcement in the wake of the government’s continuing purge against alleged supporters of the Pennsylvania-based Islamic cleric, who is believed to be the mastermind behind an attempted military coup in Turkey on July 15.

More than 40,000 public employees were dismissed from office over suspected links to the Gülenist network.

Most have already been suspended from office: The list is:

More than 28,000 were dismissed from the Education Ministry, mostly school teachers and principals. 7,669 from the police force;

2,346 from universities;

2,108 from the Health Ministry;

1,642 from Finance Ministry;

1,519 from the Religious Affairs Directorate and other government departments.

In excess of 3,000 military officers from the Turkish Armed Forces.

In Aydin, regarding teachers, a total of six have been dismissed.

The list in numbers of teachers in Aydin is: Total: 253

Efeler 105, Nazilli 95, Söke 26, Çine 23, Bozdoğan 15, Köşk 15, Kuyucak 11, Sultanhisar 10, Germencik 9, İncirliova 9, Karacasu 8, Didim 6, Koçarlı 5, Yenipazar 5, Buharkent 4, Kuşadası 3 and Karpuzlu 1, and 3 Büyükşehir education officials.