Turkey: Human Rights Convention Suspended, Erdogan All-Powerful

President Erdogan announced a three-month long emergency after the failed military coup.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. (Photo: AP)

Following France’s example, Turkey has decided to temporarily suspend the European Convention on Human Rights following last week’s failed military coup and President Tayyip Erdogan’s declaration of a state of emergency.

France declared its own state of emergency following last November’s attacks by Islamist militants in Paris.

Erdogan announced a three-month state of emergency late on Wednesday, saying it would enable the authorities to act more efficiently to bring those responsible to justice.

Lawmakers in the Turkish parliament backed the motion by 346 votes to 115 against. Incidentally, the ruling AK Party, founded by Erdogan and in power since 2002, has a comfortable parliamentary majority.

While Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag assured citizens they would not feel any changes in their lives during the emergency, there remain concerns in Turkey that the situation may revert to the repressive days of martial law, after 1980’s failed military coup.

Also Read: In Turkey, a Coup Fails, an Autocrat Emerges Much Stronger

With authorities cracking down on tens of thousands of people in the judiciary, education, military and civil service, a lawmaker from the main opposition party said the state of emergency created “a way of ruling that paves the way for abuse”.

Meanwhile, neighbouring Syria has accused Erdogan of exploiting a failed coup to implement his own agenda of Islam.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said:

(Erdogan) used the coup to implement an extremist agenda, the agenda of the Muslim Brotherhood inside Turkey. This is dangerous for Turkey and for its neighbouring countries, including Syria.

Nearly 75,000 people have been detained in Turkey over just a week as the Erdogan government has clamped down heavily on any possible perpetrators of the coup, in one of the largest purges in the country.

(With inputs from Reuters and The Independent)