Turkey awakes to Erdogan’s state of emergency

A three-month state of emergency in Turkey, which authorities say will enable them to take swift, effective action against those responsible for last week’s failed military coup, came into force on Thursday (July 21) after it was published in the Official Gazette.

The state of emergency began at 1 a.m.

On Thursday morning, residents of Ankara gave their view of the meaure.

Ankara resident Hasan Tayyar believed the state of emergecy would further curb freedoms inTurkey.

” I think it could make things worse in a country where we have no freedoms. We will probably have less freedoms and (more) dominance. It could curb the state of awareness which is bad but at least people would fight more for their freedoms,” he said.

But another resident, Mehmet Yucel, deemed it necessary.

“I think this is the right move under the current circumstances. We are going through difficult times. What happened is very wrong regardless of whether we love and support the ruling party or not.”

Speaking of the attempted coup, he said: “This is a mistake and it should be corrected as soon as possible. Those who attempted this should be removed as soon as possible.”

President Tayyip Erdogan, who has launched mass purges of state institutions since the July 15 coup attempt, said the emergency was fully in line with Turkey‘s constitution and did not violate the rule of law or basic freedoms of citizens.

The state of emergency will allow the president and cabinet to bypass parliament in passing new laws and to limit or suspend rights and freedoms as they deem necessary.

Erdogan announced the emergency in a live television broadcast in front of government ministers after a meeting of the National Security Council that lasted nearly five hours on Wednesday.