Turkey extends post-coup state of emergency

Turkey’s parliament votes to renew a state of emergency, in effect since last year’s failed coup attempt sparked the biggest crackdown in the country’s modern history.

The state-run Anadolu news agency says lawmakers agreed to a three-month extension of the current emergency law, which had been due to expire on Wednesday.

The vote follows the first anniversary of the attempted putsch against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, marked in Istanbul and Ankara by mass rallies and bellicose rhetoric aimed at his opponents.

Following the foiled coup — blamed on US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen — authorities have arrested at least 50,000 people and sacked more than 100,000.

Erdogan also shored up his position by winning a referendum on enhancing his powers earlier this year.

— AFP