Vi

Turkey to extend state of emergency

by VTV409 January 2018 Last updated at 20:15 PM

Comments0
VTV.vn - Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said that Turkey will extend the state of emergency imposed after the 2016 coup attempt for another three months, the sixth extension of an emergency rule that has ushered in a sweeping crackdown.

More than 50,000 people have been arrested since its introduction and 150,000 have been sacked or suspended from their jobs in the military, public and private sectors. The government says the purges are necessary to confront security challenges facing Turkey, and to root out supporters of the US based cleric Fethullah Gulen who it says was behind the coup attempt. Gulen has denied any involvement.