Critics fear overreach
Turkey’s state of emergency begins
Turkey’s president triumphantly rallied supporters after prayers at a mosque Friday as his government announced new details about the state of emergency imposed after an attempted coup.
The changes included extending the period suspects can be detained without charges to up to a week.
“Victory belongs to the faithful,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told hundreds of people outside a mosque in Ankara, the capital. He said pro-government protesters faced down guns and tanks during the July 15 uprising and accused followers of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, the alleged director of the uprising, of mocking the Turkish people.
Gulen has strongly denied any knowledge of the attempted military coup.
“Here is the army, here is the commander!” the crowd in Ankara chanted. They also called for the reintroduction of the death penalty for use against coup plotters, a request that Erdogan has said he would consider despite concerns it would violate Turkey’s international commitments and rupture ties with Europe.
Germany has expressed concern about the rule of law in Turkey, saying several people detained in the wake of the failed coup appeared to have been mistreated.
“(This) raises troubling questions, if accused people are seen on television or photos bearing clear traces of physical violence,” Steffen Seibert, spokesman for the German government, told reporters Friday in Berlin.
Germany hopes Turkey’s state of emergency will be as short as possible and that it would have no impact on a deal between the EU and Ankara to halt the flow of migrants crossing to Europe, Seibert said.
Turkey’s parliament on Thursday approved the three-month state of emergency, which gives Erdogan sweeping new powers. He has said the state of emergency will counter threats to Turkish democracy, though critics are urging restraint because they fear the measure will violate basic freedoms.
Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag told broadcaster CNN Turk that the period of detention that most suspects can be held without charges will be extended from one to two days to about one week in the first stage of the state of emergency.