Turkey imposes overseas travel ban on academics as purge continues

Turkish academics have been banned from leaving the country under an order issued to the border police that went into effect on Wednesday morning. An official source said the step was taken to ensure that those who took part in last week's failed coup are captured, arrested and brought in for questioning as the government investigates the connection between some coup leaders and Turkish academic institutions. On Tuesday, the rectors of three leading universities were suspended and 1,577 faculty heads were fired. The teaching licenses of 21,000 teachers from the country's secular education field have been cancelled as well. Ankara also blocked access to the Wikileaks website following the site's release on Wednesday of 300,000 Turkish ruling party e-mails ranging from 2010 until June of this year.