Will lift emergency if re-elected, says Turkey’s Erdogan

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has pledged for the first time that he would immediately lift the almost two-year state of emergency in place since the 2016 failed coup if he is re-elected in this month’s polls.

Erdogan declared the state of emergency five days after the July 15, 2016 failed bid to oust him from power. An unprecedented purge that has seen some 55,000 arrested has taken place under the measure.

The state of emergency has become a campaign issue in the June 24 presidential and parliamentary elections, with the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and Iyi (Good) Party vowing to end it.

“After June 24, if I am given the right to continue in office, our first step will be, God willing, to lift the state of emergency,” Erdogan

ANKARA:Turkey’s

said in an interview with 24 TV late on Wednesday.

His comments came after CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu vowed that its candidate for the presidency Muharrem Ince would lift the state of emergency within 48 hours if elected.

Ince tweeted on Thursday: “After the elections I will take the oath and as I take office we will immediately lift the emergency.” Erdogan on June 8 said “there could be the question of lifting” the state of emergency after the election but this is the first time he has made such a clear pledge

The emergency has been criticised by activists who say the measure has been used against all opponents of Erdogan and not just plotters in the coup, which Turkey says was masterminded by US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen. AFP