State of emergency declared in Turkey following failed coup

ANKARA — Turkey’s president on Wednesday declared a three-month state of emergency following a failed coup.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the measure was being taken to counter threats to Turkish democracy and wasn’t intended to curb basic freedoms.

“The aim is to rapidly and effectively take all steps needed to eliminate the threat against democracy, the rule of law and the people’s rights and freedoms,” Erdogan said after a meeting with cabinet ministers and advisers.

The president, who has said he narrowly escaped being killed or captured by renegade military units, suggested purges would continue within military ranks.

The insurrection was launched late Friday, but security forces and protesters loyal to the government quashed the rebellion.

Cracking down on alleged subversives in education, Turkey also said Wednesday it would close more than 600 private schools and dormitories.

Erdogan’s government said it has fired nearly 22,000 education ministry workers, mostly teachers, taken steps to revoke the licences 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 botched insurrection.

It is Erdogan’s belief cleric Fethullah Gulen, whose followers run a worldwide network of schools, seeks to infiltrate the Turkish education system and other institutions in order to bend the country to his will. The cleric’s movement, which espouses moderation and multi-faith harmony, says it is a scapegoat for what it describes as the president’s increasingly autocratic conduct.

Canada has rebuffed the Turkish government’s requests for information on the Gulen movement in Canada, Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion told The Canadian Press on Wednesday.