Ankara, Turkey. The Turkish national leader Erdogan fresh off of his legislative victory in consolidation of power, has now extended Turkey’s state of emergency for an additional three months.
The state of emergency Turkey has imposed in the wake of last year’s failed coup attempt will be extended by an additional three months, Deputy PM Numan Kurtulmus said on April 18th following a Turkish national cabinet meeting.
The National Security Council, chaired by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, advised extending the emergency rule, the third such extension made since the botched putsch. Ministers accepted its advice, according to Kurtulmus.
The decision came just two days after Erdogan and his ruling AKP’s narrow win in the referendum that opens the way to an executive-style presidency.
The Turkish main opposition party CHP has claimed that irregularities in the conduct of the referendum mean the result of the popular vote is not accurate. The party deputy chairman has called for the annulment of the results and another vote on the matter.
Protesters in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir, where the Yes camp lost, took to the streets against the results of the referendum. The protests did not draw large numbers of people and were photographed by Turkish intelligence services.