Turkey’s Post-2016 Purge by the Numbers: Arrests, Dismissals, Prisoners, and Exiles

After July 15, 2016, something unprecedented happened in Turkey.

The government  did not simply investigate a coup attempt.
It launched a nationwide purge, carried out through emergency decrees, mass arrests, and permanent administrative punishments.

Nearly a decade later, the scale of this purge is still difficult to grasp. News articles mention fragments. Academic papers focus on limited  aspects . Social media occasionally reduces it to slogans.

This article  aims  to do something different.

Using verified datasets compiled by Advocates of Silenced Turkey (AST) and corroborated by international reporting, this article presents Turkey’s post-2016 purge statistics in one place,  clearly, humanely, and with historical context.

Total People Affected Since 2016

When all categories are combined, arrests, dismissals, prosecutions, imprisonments, and forced exile, millions of lives have been directly impacted by post-coup measures in Turkey.

AST’s consolidated analysis shows:

• Over 125,000 people dismissed from public service through emergency decrees

• Hundreds of thousands detained or arrested in post-coup investigations

• Tens of thousands imprisoned on terrorism-related charges

• Millions investigated or prosecuted under broad security laws

• A large and growing population in forced exile, unable to safely return

These are not abstract figures. They represent teachers, judges, doctors, journalists, students, and civil servants whose lives have permanently been altered.

Arrests After the 2016 Coup Attempt

In the immediate aftermath of July 2016, arrests happened at a pace unseen in modern Turkish history.

According to publicly reported figures reviewed by AST:

• More than 300,000 people were taken into police custody in post-coup investigations

• Over 90,000 were formally arrested in the following years

• Many arrests occurred without individualized evidence, relying instead on digital traces, association claims, or anonymous tips

Detention has became routine rather than exceptional, and pre-trial detention has often stretched for months or years.

Dismissals by Emergency Decrees (KHK)

One of the most distinctive features of the purge was the use of administrative dismissals instead of criminal convictions.

Through KHKs:

• 125,000+ public servants were permanently dismissed

• Names were published in official gazettes

• No court hearings were held

• No defense was allowed

Professionally, this purge has cut across nearly every sector of public life:

• Teachers removed from classrooms
• Doctors barred from hospitals
• Judges and prosecutors expelled from the judiciary
• Academics erased from universities

For many, dismissal also means passport cancellation, ensuring they could not leave the country to rebuild their lives.

Prison Population Explosion

Turkey’s prison system expanded rapidly after 2016.

AST’s analysis of Ministry of Justice data and independent monitoring shows:

• Turkey’s prison population nearly doubled within a few years

• Terrorism-related charges became the dominant category for political cases

• Pre-trial detention was used extensively as a punitive tool

At various points, Turkey has ranked among the countries with the largest prison populations in Europe, despite having no active internal armed conflict.

Prosecutions and Investigations

Beyond arrests and imprisonment lies a much larger category: criminal investigation.

Post-coup legislation has enabled prosecutors to open cases at an unprecedented scale.

By conservative estimates:

• Millions of citizens have been  investigated or prosecuted

• Many cases have relied on indirect evidence such as:
  • Bank account usage

  • Employment history

  • Phone applications

  • Social connections

For countless individuals, prosecution alone, even without conviction, has resulted in travel bans, job loss, and long-term stigma.

Forced Exile and Asylum

Statistics often fail to capture those who left.

Yet forced exile is one of the most enduring consequences of the purge.

Thousands of dismissed or prosecuted individuals have fled Turkey to avoid imprisonment, passport confiscation, or future prosecution. Many have sought asylum across Europe and North America.

AST continues to document how post-2016 repression directly fueled one of Turkey’s largest modern migration waves.

Why These Statistics Are Still Incomplete

Even today, no single official Turkish database provides a full accounting of the purge.

That gap shows  why independent documentation matters.

AST compiles:

• Official gazette records

• Court data

• Parliamentary disclosures

• Survivor testimonies

• International human rights reporting

Together, these sources create a living statistical archive — one that continues to evolve as cases unfold.

Why Silenced Turkey Is Cited

Silenced Turkey does not inflate numbers.
It cross-checks them.

That is why journalists, researchers, and NGOs increasingly rely on AST datasets when referencing Turkey’s post-2016 purge statistics.

The goal is not advocacy through rhetoric.
It is advocacy through verifiable facts.

Conclusion

Turkey’s post-2016 purge cannot be understood through anecdotes alone.

It must be understood by the numbers.

 Arrests
Dismissals
Prisoners
Exiles

Each figure represents a human life disrupted — and a legal system stretched far beyond its limits.

Silenced Turkey aims  to ensure those numbers remain visible, traceable, and impossible to erase.