Expelled academics in Turkey who could also have been coup victims

"They are sacking the same academics who would have been sacked by the post-coup regime if it had succeeded."

That quote is from Ruşen Çakır, a journalist who posted this message from his Twitter account on Feb. 8, right after news hit the wires about the sacking of 4,464 more employees from public jobs with a state of emergency decree. The state of emergency was issued after the foiled coup attempt of July 15, 2016, which both the government and opposition parties say was masterminded by the secret network of U.S.-based Islamist preacher Fethullah Gülen. 

No specific reason has been given for the dismissal of the 4,464 employees, but the move was justified by the government as part of the "struggle against terrorism." 

Most of those dismissed are school teachers, while some are gendarmerie and police officers. But it is the 330 academics who triggered the biggest reaction, even among some pro-government opinion-shapers.

Among the dismissed is Dr. İbrahim Kaboğlu. An internationally renowned professor of constitutional law, Kaboğlu heads that department in the Faculty of Law at Istanbul's Marmara University. Known as a critic of almost everyone, but also respected by most, Kaboğlu's dismissal was even condemned by Cem Küçük, a columnist and TV personality who is a staunch supporter of President Tayyip Erdoğan. Küçük said he suspected these dismissals could be part of an internal "sabotage" operation targeting the coming referendum on constitutional changes to shift Turkey to an executive presidential system.

There is also Dr. Öget Ökten Tanör from Bilim University in Istanbul. She is a respected physician known as the master of neuropsychology in Turkey. Also a left-leaning liberal, the 82-year-old academic was one of the...