Erdogan Declares 3 Month ‘State Of Emergency’ After Failed Coup
MEP: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has declared a state of emergency for three months following Friday night’s failed army coup in the country.
Speaking in a live broadcast address following a meeting with the National Security Council in the capital of Ankara, the Turkish leader said the decision was not against the rule of law, and did not violate any democratic freedoms.
“The purpose of the state of emergency is to most effectively and swiftly take steps necessary to eliminate the threat to democracy in our country,” he said, as cited by Anadolu Agency.
Erdogan also claimed that US-based Fethullah Gulen was behind the coup.
The declaration could be used to extend the detention of nearly 10,000 people rounded up since the failed coup.
Gulen has strongly denied links to the coup.
According to the Turkish constitution, a state of emergency is allowed up to six months.
More than 600 schools have been closed and thousands of state workers sacked in a crackdown by the president.
Earlier in the day, the Turkish president told French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault “to mind his own business,” after the French warned Ankara about the crackdown that followed the failed coup. “If he wants a lesson in democracy he can very easily get a lesson in democracy from us,” Erdogan said in an interview with Al Jazeera, as cited by AFP.
Erdogan said the ongoing “cleansing” operation in the country, implemented to punish attempted coup plotters and supporters, would continue, adding that he is working with the armed forces to rid Turkey’s military of the “virus.”
