A group of military personnel are detained in Turkey after the country’s failed coup attempt.
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Erdogan was in the Aegean resort of Marmaris when the coup struck and then flew to Istanbul where he had stayed since, appearing before supporters each night in a “vigil” for democracy.
Officials on Wednesday raised the death toll from the violence surrounding the coup attempt to 240 government supporters.
Earlier Erdogan lashed out at critics of his sweeping purges, telling France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault – who had warned the Turkish leader not to use the failed coup as a “blank cheque” to silence his opponents – to “mind his own business”.
Turkey’s National Security Council is holding an emergency meeting following a coup attempt last week that was derailed by security forces and protesters loyal to the government.
Turkey’s higher education council has banned academics from leaving the country and ordered those overseas to return home, after a military coup failed to topple the government.
Ninety-nine generals have been charged in connection with the coup, which the government claims was masterminded by USA based cleric Fethullah Gulen.
President Erdogan is due to chair meetings of his national security council and cabinet in the capital, Ankara, on Wednesday, after returning to the city for the first time since the attempted coup.
The coup represented the most serious threat to Erdogan’s 13 year domination of Turkey, and the president has said he came within 15 minutes of being killed or kidnapped by the plotters before escaping.
Making his announcement in a live television broadcast in front of government ministers after a meeting of the National Security Council in Ankara that lasted almost five hours, Erdoğan said: “The objective of the state of emergency is to most effectively and swiftly take steps necessary to eliminate the threat to democracy in our country, the rule of law, and the rights and freedom of our citizens”.
A further 14 generals remain in detention following the abortive putsch.
On Wednesday, the government is also expected to enact emergency measures. However, Gullen, in a response, rejected the allegation calling the coup a staged action of Erdogan.
Anadolu is also reporting that two Turkish military officers detained for alleged involvement in the thwarted coup have fled from a military hospital in Istanbul where they were being treated.
The government says 312 people were killed in the coup, including 145 civilians, 60 police, three soldiers and 104 plotters.
Turkey is demanding that Washington extradite Gulen, who has been in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since the late 1990s and who the government has long accused of being behind a “parallel terrorist organization”.
What is more, he said: “I don’t know those people who led the coup”.
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Spokesman Josh Earnest said a decision on whether or not to extradite would be made under a treaty between the two countries.
