Syria accused Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday of exploiting a failed coup to implement a harsh Islamist agenda that endangers Turkey and its neighbours.
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Mr Erdogan conceded that there were significant intelligence failures ahead of last Friday’s attempted coup, and said a new structure in the armed forces would be quickly put in place.
The president accuses a U.S.-based Muslim cleric, Fethullah Gulen, of being behind the coup and the state broadcaster described his followers as being part of the “Fethullah Gulen Terrorist Organization”.
Erdogan said that if parliament approves capital punishment, he would back the move – 12 years after the death penalty was abolished in Turkey.
“We have a strategic partnership, and we have to continue our solidarity”, he said.
He and the cabinet will be able to enact laws bypassing parliament; the constitutional court will be unable to challenge them; there could be restrictions on publications and freedom of assembly; and broader powers of arrest.
Article 15 allows parties who have ratified the ECHR to derogate from its obligations during times of war or public emergency.
Erdogan has claimed the threat from the coup “is not over” and urged his supporters to “work during the day, and come to the square at night”.
After announcing the state of emergency in his press conference, Erdogan then spoke by video link to the crowds still filling squares nationwide at midnight.
The participants also carried a banner reading “Leaders of Democracy” in Turkish, and held up pictures of Erdogan, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim and other officials.
The crackdown has been extraordinary in scope, taking in not just soldiers but also judges, prosecutors and lawyers. Some 50,000 state employees have either been detained or lost their jobs.
“The state of emergency gives [the authorities] a [broader] legal framework to suspend key human rights areas”, said Ziya Meral, resident fellow at the Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research.
It was earlier reported that the Turkish government believes Gulen, who founded the Hizmet movement, is behind the failed military coup attempt. No, he does not.
President Erdogan told Al Jazeera the battle against Mr Gulen and his supporters is not over.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Thursday the state of emergency should only last as long as it’s “absolutely necessary”.
“Only acts which are legally punishable can be targeted, not political opinion”.
Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek – who previously worked on Wall Street and is seen as one of the most investor-friendly politicians in the ruling AK Party – took to television and Twitter in an attempt to calm nervous financial markets and dispel comparisons with the past.
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Turkey has stepped up pressure on Washington to extradite him, sending several “dossiers” it says are packed with evidence about his alleged involvement.
