Turkish Airlines (TK, Istanbul Airport) has fired 211 staff, including management and cabin crew, for their alleged links to the Islamic scholar and secularist, Fethullah Gulen, and his alleged organization, FETÖ. The most prominent employee fired is THY's chief financial officer Coskun Kilic who has now been replaced by Murat Seker.

President Tayyip Erdogan's government claims the US-based cleric to have been behind this month's failed military coup and has undertaken a country-wide purge of all state and civil institutions to weed out any perceived supporters. As a state-owned entity, Turkish Airlines is no exception.

"Active as of July 22, contracts are cancelled given the non-fulfillment of performance criterion and in line with the necessary actions we are taking against the FETÖ structure, attitudes and behaviour conflicting with the interest of our country and company," a company statement said.

"As Turkish Airlines, united with all of the heroic and honourable Turkish people in extraordinary efforts, we have acknowledged our responsibility to terminate the malevolent illegal attempt. Under any circumstances, we have and will continue to fulfill our responsibility to contribute to democracy," it added.

With a state of emergency now in place, Erdogan's purges have seen over 50,000 civil servants and soldiers dismissed/suspended or detained with almost 3,000 private schools, charities, universities, and medical institutions now closed.

For his part, Gulen has denied any links to the aborted putsch.