Oren Dorell

USA TODAY

Turkey's government declared a three-month state of emergency and dismissed thousands of educators Wednesday, expanding a crackdown that followed the weekend failed coup.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the moves were intended to preserve Turkey's democracy, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency.

Human rights groups, however, said Erdogan's harsh measures since foiling Friday's attempted coup threaten the country's democratic tradition.

“The concern is they are going after people who supported the coup, but using this as a technique to strengthen (Erdogan's) hold,” said P. Kumar, international advocacy director at Amnesty International USA. “He was democratically elected but (Turkey is) essentially becoming a one-party state.”

The government suspended nearly 22,000 education ministry employees, including university professors and schoolteachers, and said it would revoke the licenses of 21,000 private educators, according to Anadolu. Another 1,000 officials at an education union have been suspended.

The government’s response includes dismissing thousands of military and police officials, as well as prosecutors and judges. It also has targeted the news media, blocking 20 websites, revoking licensing from 25 media outlets and canceling the credentials of 34 journalists, according to Amnesty International.

In announcing the state of emergency, Erdogan said it was necessary "to eliminate the threat to democracy in our country, the rule of law, and the rights and freedom of our citizens," Anadolu reported. ​

He also said that military purges would continue as the government roots out those who participated in the coup. “As the commander in chief, I will also attend to it so that all the viruses within the armed forces will be cleansed,” Erdogan said, according to the Associated Press.

Women are being silenced in Turkey's crackdown

Earlier in an interview with Al-Jazeera TV network, he said coup plotters might still be active in the weeks ahead. “I don’t think we have come to the end of it yet,” the president said, according to AP.

Erdogan accuses U.S.-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen of being behind the failed coup. For years, Erdogan has said Gulen used a network of schools to produce legions of supporters who’ve infiltrated the government agencies and seek to depose Erdogan’s democratically elected government. Gulen denies any involvement with the coup attempt.

The education ministry is in the process of closing 626 private schools and other establishments it believes are linked to Gulen, Anadolu reported.

“The sheer number of arrests is alarming,” Kumar said. “It’s not limited to security forces and armed forces traditionally involved in a coup d’etat. They’re really going far and above what’s usually involved in responding to a coup d’etat. … (It) goes far beyond what we’ve seen in other countries.”

President Obama, in a phone call with Erdogan on Tuesday, expressed his support for the democratically elected civilian government and said the investigation should proceed in accordance “with the democratic principles that are enshrined in Turkey’s constitution,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Tuesday.

“That includes a commitment to due process … (and) to the basic rights … like freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly,” Earnest said. “Those are the values that the Turkish people were defending in repelling the coup.”

Turkey said it submitted a formal extradition request for Gulen on Tuesday, though the State Department has yet to determine whether the dossier meets its requirements.

On Wednesday, Secretary of State John Kerry said he urged his Turkish counterpart, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavosoglu, to send evidence, not allegations.

“We have a very strict set of requirements that have to be met for an extradition to take place,” Kerry said, according to the AP.

Turkey demands extradition of cleric Fethullah Gulen from U.S.

Turkey’s response to the coup attempt threatens its relations with the European Union and joint efforts on visas, Syria's civil war, the fight against the Islamic State, migration and Iraq, Latvian Minister of Foreign Affairs Edgars Rinkevics told USA TODAY in an interview in Washington.

If the crackdown continues, Turkey will lose its status as a candidate country for the EU and the Council of Europe, Rinkevics said. A “red line” for the EU would be if Turkey reinstates the death penalty, as Erdogan has suggested it should, he said.

"There are (democratic) principles that need to be observed even when you have overlapping interests," Rinkevics said.

Like Latvia, Turkey is a NATO ally. There is no mechanism for expelling an ally from the mutual defense treaty, but NATO allies are stationed at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey. The allies added assets to protect Turkey from threats that developed along the Syrian border. They showed solidarity when Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet last year, Rinkevics said.

“All those are facts that need to be taken into account,” he said.

Contributing: Gregg Zoroya