Turkey will extend the state of emergency imposed after the July 2016 coup attempt for another three months, Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said on Monday.
Bozdag told newsmen after cabinet meeting that Turkey’s National Security Council (MGK) would discuss the extension during its next meeting, adding that the cabinet would later approve the move.
Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, had on July 20, 2016 declared a state of emergency, set to expire on April 19.
The parliament is to meet on Tuesday to vote on the recommendation, aimed at providing continued
measures to secure the rights and freedoms of citizens.
That would be the third extension of state of emergency in Turkey since it was initially imposed following failed coup attempt in 2016 by a group within the military in July 2016.
Article 120 of the constitution allows state of emergency to be imposed “at a time of serious deterioration of public order because of acts of violence”.
Turkey had in 2002 lifted its last state of emergency, imposed in provinces in the southeast over the fight against Kurdish armed groups in 1987.
Human Rights Watch said “the decision to extend the state of emergency would further endanger human rights and the rule of law, already being badly damaged in Turkey under the state of emergency.
Other reports said the move to extend the state of emergency follow government’s narrow referendum win on Sunday to amend Turkey’s constitution and grant the country’s presidential office sweeping new executive powers.
