Turkish parliament extends state of emergency into second year

Turkey’s lawmakers on Monday voted to extend the country’s state of emergency for a fourth time until October 19.

The state of emergency, put in place days after the July 15, 2016 coup attempt, granted the government wide-ranging powers, allowing it to rule by decree and carry out mass arrests and purges.

The National Security Council, chaired by President Recep Erdogan, proposed to the government to extend the state of emergency by three months.

Report says Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party dominates the house, making Parliament to approve it with a simple majority.

Erdogan said recently that the sweeping powers would only be lifted when unrest ends.

The head of the centre-left People’s Republican Party, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, in Parliament on Saturday, described the action as a “permanent” state of emergency, allowing the government to rule by decree.

The government blamed the coup on a US-based cleric, Fethullah Gulen, and said the purges target his followers, however, Gulen denied all charges.

The media report said almost 150,000 people have been purged from their jobs in the public sector and military under emergency decrees.

It added that over 50,000 people are in jail on allegations of having links to Gulen.

It stated: “The crackdown also targets opponents of the government, including Kurdish activists, human rights groups and journalists.

“More than 160 media workers and journalists are in jail in Turkey, though the government says they are all terrorists.

“Separately, assets of 965 institutions, worth some 41 billion lira ($11.3 billion) were seized by decrees issued under the state of emergency.”