Turkey’s parliament on Tuesday voted to extend a nationwide state of emergency put in place after a failed coup in 2016, allowing the government to rule by decree.
The three-month extension was approved by President Recep Erdogan’s Islamic-conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the ultra-nationalist Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).
The move had been recommended by the cabinet and the security council on Monday.
The main opposition centre-left People’s Republican Party (CHP) is opposed to the state of emergency, as is the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP).
This is the fifth extension of the state of emergency since July 2016 when there was an abortive coup by a faction in the military.
Since then, over 150,000 people have been purged from their jobs in the public sector and military under emergency decrees, while 50,000 people are jailed on ties to Fethullah Gulen, the U.S-based Turkish cleric accused of masterminding the plot. Gulen has however denied the charges.
The state of emergency has also been used to crack down on Kurdish nationalists and alleged militants, including the takeover of local municipalities in the south-east and arrests of pro-Kurdish members of parliament.
Critics, including opposition parties, say emergency rule is being used to crack down on critics, including the media, and weaken parliament. (dpa/NAN)