Three month state of emergency in Turkey

Turkey’s president has declared a three-month state of emergency after last week’s failed coup.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the measure was being taken to counter threats to Turkish democracy and was not intended to curb basic freedoms.

He spoke after a meeting with Cabinet ministers and top security advisers.

Erdogan, who praised citizens for taking to the streets in support of his administration, said the pro-government death toll in the botched coup was 246.

Earlier yesterday, the government expanded its purge of suspected coup backers and began to revoke the licences of 21,000 teachers at private schools.

The state-run Anadolu news agency said teachers involved are believed to have ties to US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom the government has accused of being behind the failed coup. Gulen has strongly denied the accusations.

Turkey has already announced the firing of 15,200 teachers at state institutions, demanded the resignations of 1,577 university deans, and halted all foreign assignments for state-employed academics.

In addition, thousands of other state employees including police officers have been fired, all accused of being Gulen followers.

Authorities have also rounded up close to 9,000 people — including 115 generals, 350 officers and 4,800 other military personnel — for alleged involvement in the coup attempt.

But two of those military officers fled from a military hospital in Istanbul where they were being treated.

Anadolu said the infantry captain and lieutenant are suspected to be followers of Gulen. Turkish police are warning the two officers may be armed and have distributed their photos in a bid to recapture them.

The announcement comes after Turkish jets carried out cross-border strikes against Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq, killing 20 alleged militants.

F-16 jets pounded targets belonging to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, in Iraq’s Hakurk region, Anadolu said.

The military has been regularly hitting suspected PKK positions in Iraq since last year, but yesterday’s were the first since the coup attempt in which several F-16 pilots were involved. The air raids appeared to be an attempt to show that forces are on top of security.