Turkey ends state of emergency declared after 2016 failed coup

Turkey ends state of emergency declared after 2016 failed coup
The state of emergency in Turkey has ended Wednesday midnight after it went into effect two years ago in the wake of the botched military coup in July 2016.
AVA- It will be replaced by a new set of security laws aiming to crack down on terrorist activities.
The termination of the emergency rule was promised by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in his presidential campaign before his victory in the general elections in June.
Renewed for seven times previously by the parliament, the state of emergency expired automatically since the government did not extend it once again.
Erdogan has been re-elected as president for another five-year term, and his Justice and Development Party (AKP), along with its nationalist ally MHP (Nationalist Movement Party), maintains its majority in the parliament.
The coup attempt on July 15, 2016 has left 250 people dead and 2,000 others injured. Tanks rolled through the streets of Ankara and Istanbul, and warplanes buzzed overhead as rebel army sought to topple the elected government of Erdogan.
The state of emergency was imposed afterwards to purge a conspiracy led by U.S.-based exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen and his followers in the state apparatus.
Nearly 3,000 coup perpetrators have been sentenced to jail terms. The Gulen network is considered as a terrorist organization called FETO by Ankara.
Since then, the government has detained 160,000 people and dismissed similar number of public workers, academics and judges, banned dozens of organizations, seized businesses, and limited the independence of the judiciary.
Critics of Erdogan accused him of using the failed putsch as a pretext to quash all forms of dissent, while Turkey said the measures were necessary to maintain national security.
"We expect that tensions caused by the state of emergency will now disappear with some of our western friends. This period was crucial for purging terrorist elements who had infiltrated in many layers of our state apparatus," said a government source to media requesting not to be named.
Although the state of emergency is lifted, the Turkish government does not intend to give up its fighting against "circles who do not want a democratic Turkey to flourish," the source pointed out.
He revealed that the AKP has submitted a draft security law to the parliament which will be put into effect for three years after the expected approval next week.