Turkey sacks 2,766 civil servants over 'terror' links NEWS / TURKEY ATTEMPTED COUP  READ MORE German journalist Mesale Tolu released in Turkey READ MORE EU cuts Turkey funding after 'democratic deterioration' Turkey Turkey attempted coup Middle East SIGN UP Some 637 military personnel are among those sacked [File: Burak Kara/Getty Images] Turkey has dismissed 2,766 people from their posts in state institutions over alleged links to "terror" organisations, according to an emergency decree published in the country's official legal database. On Sunday, a decree in the Official Gazette said 637 military, 360 gendarmerie personnel, 61 police and four coastguard members were among those sacked. Some 341 people were dismissed from the Directorate of Religious Affairs. The rest were civil servants from other institutions. Advertisement The decree also said 115 employees who were dismissed in the past were reinstated. A separate emergency decree published on the same day said defendants accused of "terrorism" must wear a uniform when appearing in court. Arrests and purges Turkey has arrested or sacked tens of thousands of people from state institutions after a failed coup attempt in July 2016. Local and international rights groups as well as Turkey's Western allies accuse President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government of using the failed coup as a pretext to silence opposition in the country and tighten its grip on power. The government says that the purges and detentions are aimed at removing supporters of Fethullah Gulen from state institutions and other parts of society. Gulen is a US-based, self-exiled religious leader who Ankara blames for the attempted coup. The European Union recently shrunk so-called "pre-accession funds" for Turkey for the first time in the 2018 budget, due to what it called the country's "deteriorating situation in relation to democracy, rule of law and human rights".