The man the EU has to deal with to keep out the migrants

Were it not for their fear of the non-European hordes, they could be a lot less kiss-ass toward him.

Turkey sacks thousands through emergency decree as Erdogan cements power

Turkey's government on Sunday issued an emergency decree dismissing thousands of public servants for alleged links to terror groups.

The decree, published in the Official Gazette, sacked 18,632 civil servants, including nearly 9,000 police officers, some 6,000 members of the military and hundreds of teachers and academics. 

Their passports will be cancelled.

Turkey has been under a state of emergency for nearly two years, declared after a failed coup attempt in July 2016. 

The government blames a U.S.-based cleric for orchestrating the coup and has sacked or arrested people suspected of links to him. 

The cleric, Fethullah Gulen, denies the allegations. 

But the purge has broadened to include other "terror groups," with more than 130,000 people dismissed.

The decree is expected to be the last of a series of emergency laws as Turkey's ruling system will fully transform into an executive presidency Monday, when President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is sworn in once again following his victory in last month's elections.

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Sunday's decree also reinstated 148 people previously sacked through emergency decrees, while annulling the ranks of some 1,500 retired military and police officers, depriving them of their pensions and passports.

Twelve non-governmental organizations, three newspapers and one television station were also shuttered through the 461-page ruling.

More than 75,000 people have been arrested for alleged links to Gulen.

About Turkey's new version of presidential republicanism, written up by and for Erdogan, that essentially replaces a parliamentary system with one like the American model, but without checks and balances and without real separation of powers.