Ankara: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday declared state of emergency for three months following a failed coup attempt on July 15.
“In the national security council meeting, we decided to propose the government to declare state of emergency according to article 120 of the constitution. The cabinet has decided to declare state of emergency for three months,” said Erdogan after a cabinet meeting he chaired on Wednesday.
“This practice is not against democracy, law and freedom. In contrary, it’s for defending, extending and enhancing these values. Declaring state of emergency aims to take steps for eliminating the risk posed against our citizens’ rights and freedoms, democracy, state of law in our country, in the most efficient and rapid way,” he said.
The president called on the nation not to worry, saying that they have taken necessary measures, including the economic ones. The state of emergency will take into effect after approved at the parliament. He did not announce details, but the security measure could facilitate longer detentions for many of the nearly 10,000 people who have been rounded up since loyalist security forces and protesters quashed the rebellion that started Friday night and was over by Saturday.
The failed coup attempt, which began last Friday, was crushed the next day; at least 290 people, including more than 100 “coup plotters,” were killed, authorities said.
Erdogan’s government said it has fired nearly 22,000 education ministry workers, mostly teachers, taken steps to revoke the licenses of 21,000 other teachers at private schools and sacked or detained half a dozen university presidents in a campaign to root out alleged supporters of a U.S.-based Muslim cleric blamed for the failed insurrection. The education ministry said it decided to close 626 private schools and other establishments under investigation for “crimes against the constitutional order and the running of that order.
Turkey demanded the resignations of 1,577 university deans and halted foreign assignments for state-employed academics. A total of 50,000 civil service employees have been fired in the purges, which have reached Turkey’s national intelligence service and the prime minister’s office. Authorities have rounded up about 9,000 people, including 115 generals, 350 officers, 4,800 other military personnel and 60 military high school students for alleged involvement in the coup attempt. Turkey’s defense ministry has also sacked at least 262 military court judges and prosecutors.
