The state of emergency will allow the government to rule by decree, passing bills that have the force of the rule of law unless they are overturned by parliament, where the majority of MPs belong to the ruling Justice and Development (AK) party.
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Fethullah Gulen, 75, who lives in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania but has a network of supporters within Turkey, has condemned the coup attempt and denied any role in it.
Speaking through an interpreter in an interview with broadcaster Al Jazeera, Erdogan dismissed suggestions that he was becoming authoritarian and that Turkish democracy was under threat.
Turkish state media say a further 32 judges and two military officers have been detained by authorities during the crackdown on alleged conspirators following last week’s failed coup.
Erdogan announced the emergency in a live television broadcast in front of government ministers after a meeting of the National Security Council that lasted almost five hours on Wednesday.
The government had already decided Wednesday to ban academics from traveling, because of suspected connections between academia and unspecified “cells in the military” that were behind the coup, according to an official cited by state broadcaster TRT.
Even before the coup attempt, Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had been widely criticised in Europe and beyond for his treatment of academics in the country, many of whom have been arrested or sacked from their posts.
Western leaders have expressed solidarity with Ankara over the coup attempt but also alarm at the sweeping response, urging Turkey to adhere to democratic values.
Kerry said on Thursday, that he made clear in several phone calls with Turkey’s foreign minister in recent days that mere allegations of wrongdoing against Fethullah Gulen would not meet United States extradition requirements.
Some 626 institutions have also been shut down, a lot of them private educational establishments, officials say.
Erdogan said Turkey submitted all evidence to the US regarding Gulen’s extradition and Ankara now awaits a decision from Washington.
“Some news reports, and, unfortunately, some public figures, have speculated that the United States in some way supported the coup attempt”, the ambassador wrote in a public statement.
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Pro-government crowds, which have rallied at major squares every night since Friday’s coup, have been clamouring for traitors to face capital punishment.
