A state of emergency will be introduced in Turkey for three months following a coup attempt last week, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Wednesday.
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Erdogan announced the state of emergency in a live broadcast in front of his government ministers after a almost five-hour meeting of the National Security Council.
The turbulence has raised concern about the stability of Turkey, a key North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member which is also part of the global coalition against Islamic State jihadists in Syria.
“God willing, first we will build historically appropriate barracks at Taksim, whether they like it or not”, Erdogan told supporters gathered outside his Istanbul home overnight to show their defiance after a faction of the military attempted to overthrow him on July 15.
“There could be”, Erdogan said, asked if other countries could have been involved in the coup in an interview with Al-Jazeera.
“I hope we will manage to swiftly go through the phases of due process and manage to return these terrorist elements so that they will face justice”, Mr Kerim Uras told reporters in Athens on Tuesday.
“We already stated that we expect that the follow-up of this event [the attempted coup] should be along the worldwide rule of law standards”, European Union Commissioner Johannes Hahn said.
A government official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the announcement has yet to be made public, also said military reforms could be proposed.
Turkey’s government has said the attempted coup was organized by followers of USA -based cleric Fetullah Gulen, who is accused of a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through infiltrating into Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary, forming a “parallel state”.
When the mass firings and detentions seen in Turkey this week do eventually slow down, analysts explain that the country will still be unstable with gaping holes left in its state and academic institutions following the removal of so many professionals. The depth and scale of the purges have raised concern among Western allies that Erdogan is trying to suppress all dissent, and that opponents unconnected with the plot will be caught in the net. About 3,000 judges have also been suspended. The purge also extended to civil servants in the environment and sports ministries.
“It is ridiculous, irresponsible and false to suggest I had anything to do with the horrific failed coup”.
The lira fell to a record low after ratings agency Standard & Poor’s cut Turkey’s foreign currency credit rating, citing the fragmentation of the political landscape and saying it expected a period of heightened unpredictability.
Seeking to prevent damage to the economy, Erdogan said in his televised address that his government would not abandon fiscal discipline and that it was not facing liquidity problems.
“He is trying to play a hero by confronting the United States, confronting a superpower”. He was able to fly into Istanbul in the early hours of Saturday morning, after rebel pilots had his plane in their sights but did not shoot it down.
On Tuesday, authorities shut media outlets deemed to be supportive of Gulen.
The Turkish government focused in particular on teachers suspected of backing Friday’s failed uprising, taking steps to revoke the licenses of 21,000 teachers at private schools and sacking or detaining half a dozen university presidents. One hundred intelligence officials, 492 people from the Religious Affairs Directorate, 257 at the prime minister’s office and 300 at the energy ministry have been removed from duty.
“When he didn’t accept the offer, other force commanders could not be convinced”.
The removal of thousands of officials has alarmed worldwide observers, with the United Nations urging Turkey to uphold the rule of law and defend human rights. Officials previously said the overall death toll was more than 290. High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini [official website] has also weighed in on the Erdogan’s announcement, saying that “no country can become an European Union member state if it introduces the death penalty”.
Lt. Col. Levent Turkkan allegedly told interrogators that coup plotters wanted to detain top civilian and military leaders, a plan that largely failed.
Cavusoglu said that Prime Minister Binali Yildirim had already met with the leaders of the two main opposition groups in parliament ahead of Wednesday’s meetings.
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Turkey’s government says it is removing from government institutions anyone it considers loyal to Fethullah Gulen, an elderly Turkish cleric who has been living in eastern Pennsylvania since the late 1990s.
