TURKEY has good news for inmates of its crowded prisons. A decree on August 17th made some 38,000 of them, excluding those convicted of serious crimes such as murder or rape, eligible for parole after serving half their sentences. The aim is to make room for the civil servants, soldiers, journalists and others detained in connection with Turkey’s failed coup—35,000 at the last count.
Having sworn to crush the Gulen movement, an Islamic sect it blames for the coup, Turkey’s government is now taking its purge abroad. The foreign ministry has recalled over 200 diplomats as part of the investigation. Of those, 32 are believed to be on the run. Eight soldiers who flew their helicopter to Greece have claimed asylum there; Turkey has asked for their extradition. It has issued an arrest warrant for Hakan Sukur, a retired football star living in America.
Turkey is also doing what it can to lean on foreign governments to dismantle a chain of Gulenist charities and private schools that spans 160 countries. Some have complied. Somalia recently closed two schools and a hospital. Azerbaijan fired 50 Turkish university teachers linked to the…
