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ISTANBUL—Turkey's government on Wednesday shut dozens of media outlets and sacked more than 1,000 military officers, widening a crackdown almost two weeks after a failed coup.

Television channels, radio stations, news agencies and newspapers listed in an emergency decree from the country's cabinet of ministers were to be closed with immediate effect.

Such decrees are sanctioned under emergency laws enacted after the coup, although they must be approved by Parliament, which is dominated by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development Party, or AKP.

Thousands of government employees have been suspended since the July 15 coup attempt that left more than 250 people dead. The new decree, coming days after dozens of reporters were ordered to be detained in connection with the failed coup, targeted some big names in Turkish media.

The list included Cihan News Agency and Samanyolu News Channel—both previously seen as close to the movement of U.S.-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, whom Turkey's government blames for the coup attempt.

Mr. Gulen, a moderate religious leader who counts millions of supporters in Turkey and abroad, has denied any role in the military uprising and says he is opposed to violence.

The media closures broaden Mr. Erdogan's purge of government and security institutions. Some 15,000 people that Ankara alleges to be followers of Mr. Gulen, including a third of the highest-ranking military officers, have been detained, according to a Turkish official. Tens of thousands of civil servants, from teachers to judges to financial regulators, have also been suspended from their jobs.

Turkey's Western allies have deplored the coup bid but urged Mr. Erdogan to preserve democratic freedoms as Ankara combats what it has designated a national security threat. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday expressed concern about the recent wave of arrests, stressing that "credible evidence" must be presented swiftly so that the detainees' legal status could be determined by a court of law.

Rights groups have repeatedly warned Mr. Erdogan against using the coup attempt as a pretext to root out domestic opposition.

The government insists the moves are proportionate after a putsch attempt they allege was backed by thousands of Mr. Gulen's sympathizers across the bureaucracy, the financial sector and the media. Earlier on Wednesday, Turkish Energy Minister Berat Albayrak said the U.S. and European nations should have stronger backing for Ankara's efforts to counter "antidemocratic" forces.

"Until now, we have not received the backing and the statements that we, the whole of Turkey, expect from these countries," said Mr. Albayrak, who is also Mr. Erdogan's son-in-law.

The detention of journalists and wide-scale purges of officials has raised concerns about a possible witch-hunt.

"'National security' " justification for mass closure media and detention of journalists isn't going to convince anyone," said Amnesty International's Turkey researcher Andrew Gardner, in a tweet on Wednesday.

In the years before the coup attempt, press freedom had been steadily eroding under Mr. Erdogan's rule. The police have closed opposition television stations, prosecutors have accused top journalists of writing tweets or columns insulting the president, and reporters have been beaten by mobs. The government is one of the world's leading censors of Twitter, which is widely used in Turkey to criticize the government.

The cabinet's emergency decree also announced big changes for the military. Another 1,684 members of the armed forces, including 127 generals and 32 admirals, were dismissed because of alleged connections to the Gulen movement.

The developments came a day before the annual supreme military council meeting, which is expected to outline a dramatic restructuring of the military, long seen as a bastion of secular power.

The emergency decree was the second announced under emergency powers. The first, issued last week, closed 2,341 institutions, including private schools, boardinghouses, universities, unions, charities and foundations. It will come into effect on July 29, according to state-owned Anadolu Agency.

Write to Joe Parkinson at joe.parkinson@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 27, 2016 21:25 ET (01:25 GMT)

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