In November, the European court announced it would not review more than 25,000 petitions related to the purge of about 150,000 civil servants in Turkey since the coup attempt, saying the applicants should first try a new state of emergency commission set up by Ankara to review the cases. The ruling was in response to an appeal by Turkish academics who were fired because they signed a petition calling for a cease-fire with the Kurdistan Workers' Party, a separatist group Turkey and its allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization have declared a terrorist organization.

Source: Los Angeles Times January 29, 2018 17:43 UTC