Turkey State of Emergency Worries EU

“We are following the developments regarding the state of emergency Turkey has declared after the attempted coup, which the European Union condemned, very closely and with concern,” said a statement issued by the bloc’s foreign affairs chief, Federica Mogherini, and enlargement commissioner, Johannes Hahn, AFP reported on Friday.

“This declaration comes in the wake of the recent unacceptable decisions on the education system, judiciary and the media ... we call on Turkish authorities to respect under any circumstances the rule of law, human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the right of all individuals concerned to a fair trial,” the strongly worded statement added.

Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said on Thursday there were significant failures in intelligence before last Friday’s attempted military coup and that the armed forces would quickly be restructured and “get fresh blood”.

In his first interview since declaring a state of emergency following the abortive coup, Erdogan said a new coup attempt was possible but would not be easy, saying “we are more vigilant”.

“It is very clear that there were significant gaps and deficiencies in our intelligence, there is no point trying to hide it or deny it. I told it to the head of national intelligence,” Erdogan said in his palace in Ankara, which was targeted during the coup attempt.

Erdogan accuses Fethullah Gulen, a US-based cleric, of masterminding the plot, which crumbled early on Saturday. In the roundup, more than 60,000 soldiers, police, judges, civil servants and teachers were suspended, detained or placed under investigation.

Erdogan said a meeting of the Supreme Military Council (Yas), the organization overseeing the armed forces, scheduled for 1 August, might be brought forward by a week to oversee the restructuring. The council is chaired by the prime minister and includes the defence minister and the chief of staff.