“Some thought the economy would collapse if a state of emergency was declared”.
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People gather outside a military base in Etimesgut district of Ankara, Turkey, late Thursday, July 21, 2016.
Turkey announced new details about the state of emergency, including extending the period that suspects can be detained without charges to up to a week.
The three-month state of emergency will see Erdogan preside the council of ministers and allows government to rule by decree, pass bills that have the force of law unless they are overturned by parliament, where the majority of MPs belong to the ruling Justice and Development party (AKP). Obama said he also told the Turkish president that any false reports about alleged US knowledge of the coup plot “puts our people at risk on the ground in Turkey and it threatens what is a critical alliance and partnership between the United States and Turkey”.
Western countries backed Turkey’s government during last week’s failed putsch, but are increasingly anxious about Turkey’s subsequent crackdown against thousands of members of the security forces, judiciary, civil service and academia. In a crackdown on Gulen’s suspected followers, more than 60,000 soldiers, police, judges, civil servants and teachers have been suspended, detained or placed under investigation.
Erdogan, meanwhile, criticized Gulen in remarks to journalists in Ankara, the Turkish capital, saying “this individual is indecent enough to insult the people from over there” in the United States.
Istanbul criminal judge, who has said he believed USA -based preacher Fetullah Gulen was The Mahdi, i.e. the savior to appear before Judgment Day, has been remanded in custody after his appearance in court, security sources said on Friday.
Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in the United States for years, has denied any role in the attempted putsch, and accused Erdogan of orchestrating the coup himself.
It is important to consider the repercussions of the coup attempt, Silverstein says, as Turkey has experienced “rapid and profound changes” and has grown into one of the top economies in the world with important ties to the USA and European Union members.
German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said several people detained in the wake of the coup had been shown on camera and appeared to have been mistreated.
Turkey rebuffed the European Union on Friday over the death penalty, while President Tayyip Erdogan vowed to restructure the military and give it “fresh blood”, signaling the scope of a shake-up yet to come under a state of emergency.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the state of emergency will counter threats to Turkish democracy.
Even without the emergency measures, Turkey has already imposed a crackdown that has included mass arrests, mass firings and the closure of hundreds of schools.
Those targeted in the crackdown include prominent journalist Orhan Kemal Cengiz and his wife, Sibel Hurtas, who were detained at Istanbul’s main global airport as they prepared to leave the country Thursday.
“Turkey is a state of law and does not act by revenge”, said Prime Minister Binali Yildirim as he visited a military centre in Golbasi outside Ankara, where bombings on the night of the coup killed dozens of people.
The government said the coup claimed 265 lives – including 24 plotters, and 241 citizens and members of the security forces who opposed them.
Some media have cited concerns that Erdogan’s crackdown is at least partly created to sideline legitimate opposition to his government and expand his power.
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The Vienna-based Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, or OSCE, has asked for access to the trials against alleged coup plotters in Turkey.
