ANKARA, Turkey Turkey’s president on Wednesday declared a three-month state of emergency following a botched coup attempt, declaring he would rid the military of the “virus” of subversion and giving the government sweeping powers to expand a crackdown that has already included mass arrests and the closure of hundreds of schools.
Advertisement
A state of emergency came into force in Turkey on July 21, a move Erdogan said was necessary after the failed coup attempt on July 15 that left more than 260 people dead and 1,500 injured.
The government will use its enhanced powers in the interests of democracy, and “there will be no restrictions on rights and freedoms”, Erdogan told a rally on Wednesday night.
In testimony published by the Hurriyet newspaper and corroborated by a Turkish official, an infantry lieutenant-colonel said the coup plotters had tried to persuade military chief Hulusi Akar, who was being held hostage, to join the effort to overthrow Erdogan but that he had refused.
Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said the state of emergency was aimed at averting a possible second military coup.
Dion also said Canada is equally troubled by reports of the firings and detentions of tens of thousands of people, including members of the judiciary, public servants, teachers, academics, members of civil society and the media.
Academics were banned from travelling overseas on Wednesday in what a Turkish official said was a temporary measure to prevent the risk of alleged coup plotters at universities from fleeing.
The Defence Ministry is investigating all military judges and prosecutors, and has suspended 262 of them, broadcaster NTV reported, while 900 police officers in the capital, Ankara, were also suspended on Wednesday. Emergency powers allow the government to take swift measures against supporters of the coup, in which more than 246 people were killed and over 2,000 wounded. A total of 50,000 civil service employees have been fired in the purges, which have reached Turkey’s national intelligence service and the prime minister’s office.
Turkey, a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally that describes itself as a bridge between east and west, is truly at a crossroads, embarking on a path whose ultimate consequences may not even be entirely clear to the leader who has dominated the nation of 80 million for more than a decade.
Erdogan said: “It is clear it was a minority (of the armed forces)”.
U.S. President Barack Obama spoke with Erdogan on Tuesday about the coup and the status of Gulen, who lives in Pennsylvania.
The government believes Gulen supporters have organized a parallel state, and uses the term “parallel structure” to refer to this alleged movement.
“The sheer number of arrests is alarming”, Kumar said.
Erdogan struck a more conciliatory note in his comments to Al Jazeera, saying he did not want to link the issue of United States use of Turkey’s Incirlik airbase with Ankara’s request for Gulen’s extradition.
Advertisement
Under the U.S. -Turkey extradition agreement, Washington can only extradite a person if he or she has committed an “extraditable act”. The lira currency was near a new record low on Thursday, while the main stock index was down 3.6 percent. The Council of Europe said it had been informed of Turkey’s decision, and that the convention will still apply, but that individual exceptions will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
