Turkey Mulls Lifting State of Emergency ’in Near Future’

Speaking at an event organized for foreign capital investors in Ankara, Erdogan said, "There can be no question of lifting emergency rule with all this happening," Erdogan said in a speech to investors in Ankara.
 
"We will lift the emergency rule only when we no longer need to fight against terrorism." Erdogan added that, “Although we apply it on a very limited field, it is possible to lift the state of emergency in the future, which is not very far.”
 
The president said nobody in Turkey had suffered due to state of emergency.
 
"It is out of question that our own people or anybody from among international investors has suffered under the state of emergency," Erdogan said.
 
Turkey declared a state of emergency on July 20, 2016, after the coup bid and has so far extended it three times.
 
According to the Turkish government, Fethullah Organization and its US-based leader Fethullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, which left 250 people dead and nearly 2,200 injured.
 
Ankara also accuses Fethullah Organization of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary.
 
Earlier on Wednesday Turkish authorities detained 14 army officers and issued warrants for the detention of 51 people, including 34 former employees of state broadcaster TRT, for suspected links to the coup, local media reported.
 
During his speech, he also slammed the decision of some European countries forbidding Turkish officials from rallies or addressing their expatriate citizens.
 
“We wanted to hold a hall meeting in Hamburg, Germany, with our expats during the G20. We said that it was not necessary to hold it in Hamburg, we could do it in some other place but they did not allow it. What happened to freedom? Why are you not allowing it?” he asked.
 
He said western countries were not even allowing Turkish ministers to speak to their people.