Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has said the state of emergency that has been in place since July 2016 will be lifted if he is elected in June 24 elections, but suggested it would be reinstated if the country faces further threats.
“Should I continue this task after June 24, the first thing we’ll do is, God willing, lift the state of emergency,” Erdogan said in an interview with 24 TV on Wednesday night.
“Lifting the state of emergency does not mean abolishing it completely not to come back. We’ll take whatever the toughest precaution is again when we see terror.”
The state of emergency lets Erdogan and the government bypass parliament in passing new laws and allows them to suspend rights and freedoms. It was declared shortly after a failed coup attempt in July 2016 and has been extended every three months since then.
More than 160,000 people have been detained under the emergency rule and a similar number of civil servants have been sacked from their jobs, the United Nations has said. Scores of media outlets have been shut and journalists and activists have been detained.
Critics say Erdogan is using the state of emergency as a pretext to quash dissent. Turkey has said the measures are necessary to fend off the security threats it faces and that the state of emergency does not interfere with the campaign.
Erdogan said in April that businesses should welcome the state of emergency because it guards against terrorism and prevents workers from going on strike.
Turkey’s Erdogan to lift state of emergency if re-elected
Turkey’s Erdogan to lift state of emergency if re-elected
Syria says 120 Daesh detainees escaped prison; Kurdish website said 1,500 escaped
- The Syrian ministry said Syrian army units and ministry special forces entered Shaddadi following the breakout
CAIRO: Syria’s Interior Ministry said on Tuesday that about 120 Daesh detainees escaped from Shaddadi prison, after the Kurdish website Rudaw reported that a spokesperson for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, Farhad Shami, said around 1,500 Daesh members had escaped.
The Syrian ministry said Syrian army units and ministry special forces entered Shaddadi following the breakout. It said security forces had recaptured 81 of the escapees after search and sweep operations in the town and surrounding areas, with efforts continuing to arrest the remaining fugitives.
Earlier, the Syrian army said “a number of” Daesh militants had escaped a prison that had been under SDF control in the eastern city of Shaddadi, accusing the SDF of releasing them.
After days of fighting with government forces, the SDF agreed on Sunday to withdraw from both Raqqa and Deir Ezzor, two Arab-majority provinces they had controlled for years and the location of Syria’s main oil fields.
