The Turkish parliament is expected to approve President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s request for a three-month state of emergency in the wake of last week’s failed coup.
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Turkey’s government insists this state of emergency won’t affect most civilians and says this is a necessary measure to root out the sympathizers of last week’s coup attempt.
Authorities have rounded up close to 9,000 people – including 115 generals, 350 officers and some 4,800 other military personnel – for alleged involvement in the coup attempt.
The failed putsch and the purge that followed have unsettled the country of 80 million, a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member bordering Syria, Iraq and Iran and Western ally in the fight against Islamic State.
Mr Erdogan, who had been accused of autocratic conduct even before this week’s tough crackdown, said the state of emergency would counter threats to Turkish democracy.
In fact, one of the main reasons behind the coup was to stop Erdogan from completely destroying Turkey’s remaining secular and democratic pillars, which were established by Turkey’s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1923.
“People are being pursued without any evidence that they participated in this coup”, he said, adding that the government is “targeting people for their political affiliations”. Istanbul’s Mayor Kadir Topbas, has vowed to create a “Graveyard for traitors” in the outskirts of the city for people to visit and curse the coup plotters.
In other moves against education, Turkey demanded the resignations of 1,577 university deans and halted foreign assignments for state-employed academics.
He has repeatedly claimed moderate cleric Fethullah Gulen orchestrated the attempted coup on Friday, even though Gulen lives in the US.
New Prime Minister Theresa May spoke to Erdogan on Monday night to stress the UK’s “support for democratically elected institutions”. He will then chair a Cabinet meeting, also at the palace, the immediate vicinity of which was bombed during the military power grab. The purge also extended to civil servants in the environment and sports ministries. “We condemn this coup and we are clear about our desire to see democracy sustained and flourish in Turkey”.
Authorities have also shut media outlets deemed to be supportive of Gulen, while more than 20,000 teachers and administrators have been suspended from the Education Ministry. 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.
He guaranteed all “viruses” in the armed forces would be cleansed. “Canada urges Turkey to comply fully with its relevant obligations under worldwide human rights law”, Dion said. But it was not immediately clear if Erdogan would back the move urged by his ally in comments to broadcaster NTV. The emergency was declared in response to the failed coup that happened on 15 July 2016. He is the founder of the Gulen movement and the inspiration figure for its largest organization, the Alliance for Shared Values. Gulen has denied any knowledge of the failed coup.
On Tuesday, the government revoked the licences of 21,000 private school teachers and it has sacked or arrested half a dozen university chancellors.
“This is resembling the pre-genocidal periods in fascist Europe”. And we just said: ‘The ball is in your camp.
“Given this imperative, Canada is concerned by the state of emergency declared by President Erdogan today”.
The US-based cleric who has been in self-imposed exile for two decades has denied the accusations.
The airbase is key to the USA -led fight against Islamic State.
“We need to make sure that all those who will be arrested related to his coup will have the opportunity to defend themselves in a robust and legitimate trial”.
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Perhaps the time has come for the European Union and the U.S.to reassess their relations with Turkey and stop enabling Erdogan to exercise free reign, when in fact his behavior has a direct and indirect impact on Western interests, both domestically and in the Middle East. “The owners are the nation”, said Erdogan in the text message.
