ISTANBUL: Turkey’s state of emergency, imposed after the failed 2016 coup, came to an end today after two years in force that saw tens of thousands arrested and dismissed from their jobs.
The emergency, declared by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on July 20, 2016, five days after the botched putsch, came to an end at 1:00 am on Thursday (2200 GMT Wednesday) after the government opted for it not to be extended again after seven three month renewals.
Relevant pieces published earlier:
i) Lawmakers here today began taking their oaths in Turkey’s new parliament, with the ruling party of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan needing to rely on nationalist allies to ensure an overall majority.
Legislative polls were held simultaneously on June 24 with presidential polls, where Erdogan won a new mandate to extend his 15-year domination of Turkey under a new system that gives him greater powers.
But Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) was less dominant in the parliamentary elections, winning 295 seats and falling slightly short of an outright majority in the 600 MP chamber.
To ensure a majority it will have to rely on its ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) which won 49 seats in a far stronger performance than was predicted.
Analysts say the MHP could push the AKP into a harder line on Kurdish issues and foreign policy. The opposition will be led by the secular Republican People’s Party (CHP), which won 146 seats in the parliament.
The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), which has been hit by a spate of detentions of its top figures, is the second largest opposition party with 67 seats. The right-wing Iyi (Good) Party of Meral Aksener enters parliament for the first time after it was set up in October last year with 43 seats. (Published on 7th July 2018)
ii) A Turkish court on Friday handed out heavy jail sentences to six journalists from the now-shut down Zaman newspaper which backed US-based Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen blamed for the failed 2016 coup.
Eleven suspects – four of them in detention – appeared before an Istanbul court in the final hearing of the case involving the Zaman newspaper shut down by the authorities in 2016 over links to the Gulen group. The court convicted six suspects on the charge of membership of an armed terror group and acquitted five others of all charges, the private DHA news agency reported.
Journalists Mumtazer Turkone and Mustafa Unal were sentenced to 10 years and six months in prison and the judge ordered them to remain in jail. Sahin Alpay and Ali Bulac were sentenced to eight years and nine months in jail on the same charge but they were allowed conditional release, DHA said.
The court handed jail terms of eight years and nine months for Ahmet Turan Alkan and nine years for Ibrahim Karayegen. But both were also ordered to be freed under judicial control which means they are unable to leave the country and must report to police.
Five other journalists and former columnists – Lale Sariibrahimoglu, Orhan Kemal Cengiz, Ihsan Dagi, Mehmet Ozdemir and Nuriye Ural – were acquitted of all charges, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
Turkish authorities have launched a vast crackdown in the wake of the failed coup, arresting tens of thousands of people including journalists under a two-year state of emergency. (Published on 7th July 2018)
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