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Erdogan announces 3 month state of emergency in Turkey after coup attempt

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, however, has ordered massive reprisals following the failed coup attempt, with senior generals among more than 2,800 military personnel arrested.

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The announcement was made during a televised address and after a almost five hour meeting of the National Security Council.

He told supporters in Istanbul this week that “an important decision” would be announced after the national security council meeting, without specifying.

The education ministry said the schools were under investigation for “crimes against the constitutional order and the running of that order”, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.

It comes five days after a failed coup attempt and amid a major crackdown against thousands of members of the security forces, judiciary, civil service and academia.

Erdogan has said he wants to “cleanse” all state offices of people linked to the uprising.

“The power of the tank has not been able to overcome the power of the people”, he said, adding that all those involved in the coup will be “severely punished”.

Citing France’s ongoing state of emergency, he said European critics could take “a lesson in democracy” from Turkey.

Steinmeier said action should only be taken against those with “a provable involvement in punishable actions” and not “an alleged political attitude”.

Turkey had in 2002 lifted its last state of emergency, which had been imposed in provinces in the southeast for the fight against Kurdish armed groups in 1987.

Further details were not provided-but as Bloomberg notes, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has had a rocky relationship with academics all year, putting many on trial for criticizing the government’s handling of tension with Turkish Kurds in the southeast.

He also told Al Jazeera it would be a “big mistake” if the USA failed to extradite Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, who lives in Pennsylvania and is accused of masterminding the plot.

Turkish special forces policemen carry the coffin an officer who was killed last Friday during the failed military coup, during his funeral procession in Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, July 20, 2016.

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Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus declined to provide any details from the files, but said they contained information on past activities by the Gulen-led Hizmet movement.

WNEP via CNN