Turkey’s President Declares Three-Month State of Emergency

Following a failed coup, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared a state of emergency that human rights groups worry could threaten the rule of law in Turkey. Speaking at the presidential palace Erdogan vowed that “all the viruses within the armed forces will be cleansed.” More than 50,000 state employees have been arrested, fired or suspended in the days since the coup attempt last Friday night. On Wednesday Turkish courts charged 99 top military officers with plotting and participating in the failed coup. Erdogan insisted that the three-month state of emergency is “in no way against democracy, the law and freedoms,” but Western officials expressed concern. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier urged the Turkish government to maintain the rule of law and to react proportionally to the threat. “Only provable involvement in illegal acts, not suspected political leanings, should trigger governmental action,” he said. The President has blamed the coup attempt on Fethullah Gullen, a US-based cleric, and a former ally of Erdogan who runs a worldwide network of schools. Erdogan has called for Gullen to be extradited to Turkey, but US Secretary of State John Kerry said Turkey must provide hard evidence that Gullen was behind the coup. Amnesty International has described Erdogan’s massive arrests as “a crackdown of exceptional proportions.”