Turkey fired more than 7,000 police officers, government officials and academics on Friday, July 14, the eve of the one-year anniversary of a failed military coup, the Voice of America reports.

A government order, published by the official state-run Gazette, shows those dismissed include 2,303 police — including some high-ranking officers — along with more than 300 academics from universities.

The decree also strips 342 retired officers and soldiers of their ranks.

The order was published under a state of emergency imposed after last year's attempted coup to seize power from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

More than 240 people were killed in the violence.

Turkey claims the coup was led by a cleric, Fethullah Gulen, who has been living in self-imposed exile in the United States for nearly two decades. Gulen denies any involvement.

Since the coup attempt, Erdogan dismissed at least 100,000 civil servants he has characterized as supporters of the aborted coup. The government has arrested another 50,000 people.

The Turkish opposition says that Erdogan's government has been moving toward authoritarianism, while the Turkish leader says that the crackdown on rights is necessary to thwart security threats to the ruling government.