Turkey’s Erdogan, alliance partner discuss lifting state of emergency

YEREVAN, JUNE 28, ARMENPRESS. The state of emergency in Turkey, that has been declared after the July 2016 coup attempt and has been extended every three months since then, may be lifted, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at a meeting with his government alliance partner, the leader of the Nationalist Movement party Devlet Bahceli, Reuters reports.

Erdogan said this month it would be lifted if he won the June 24 elections.

Erdogan won 53 percent of the vote in Sunday’s presidential vote, extending his rule until at least 2023 - but now with the sweeping executive powers that Turks narrowly backed in a referendum last year.

The state of emergency enables Erdogan and the government to bypass parliament in passing new laws and allows them to suspend rights and freedoms. Critics say Erdogan has used the state of emergency as a pretext to quash dissent. Turkey has said the measures are necessary to fend off security threats.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan