But before the state of emergency was declared, the government banned a magazine from printing its edition on the coup and it revoked the licenses of 24 broadcasters it said were linked to cleric Fethullah Gulen.
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A day after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared a three-month state of emergency following last week’s failed coup, Steinmeier said it’s important that “the rule of law, a sense of proportion and commensurability are preserved”. “The aim is to rapidly and effectively take all steps needed to eliminate the threat against democracy, the rule of law and the people’s rights and freedoms”, he said.
Turkey’s new state of emergency could suspend most of the rights and freedoms set out in the country’s constitution.
More than 50,000 people have been fired or suspended over the attempt to overthrow the government, including police, generals and admirals, teachers, judges and civil servants among others, and more than 9,000 remain in detention.
The three-month emergency status gives the President and his Cabinet sweeping new powers that Erdogan says are aimed at tackling a looming “threat to democracy”. “They now rule the streets and have attacked known secularists in some instances-even bringing a call from Erdogan to behave more responsibly”, he said. Gulen denies any involvement with the coup attempt.
“Europe does not have the right to criticize this decision”, Erdogan said during his address.
Erdogan also says the main target will be what he calls the “cancerous” opposition of the US -based cleric Fetullah Gulen, accused of being behind the coup attempt. Some claim that the MGK will advise the government to overhaul the military structure as a whole and dissolve the gendarmerie force by transferring its personnel to the police department.
“It is very clear that there were significant gaps and deficiencies in our intelligence, there is no point trying to hide it or deny it”, Erdogan told Reuters.
He guaranteed all “viruses” in the armed forces would be cleansed. “I don’t think we have come to the end of it yet”, the president said, the AP reported.
At least 240 people, including members of the security forces and civilians, were martyred during the failed putsch, and almost 1,500 others were wounded as they protested it.
In addition, tens of thousands of civil service employees, including teachers and police, have also been fired, accused of ties to the plot or suspected of links to a USA -based cleric whom authorities accuse of being the behind the plot.
But efforts to repress Gulen’s followers have mushroomed since the thwarted coup, said Aslandogan, who spoke outside Gulen’s home in the Pocono Mountains.
Turkey has asked for Gulen to be extradited from the USA, but Secretary of State John Kerry said his government’s response so far is “please don’t send us allegations, send us evidence”.
Opposition parties which stood with the authorities against the coup expressed concern that the state of emergency could concentrate too much power in the hands of Erdogan, whose rivals have long accused him of suppressing free speech. On Wednesday, 99 top military officers were charged in connection with the events of the weekend.
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Erdogan struck a more conciliatory note in his comments to Al Jazeera, saying he did not want to link the issue of United States use of Turkey’s Incirlik airbase with Ankara’s request for Gulen’s extradition.
