Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has addressed the country's MPs for the first time following the failed coup attempt.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has addressed the country’s MPs for the first time following the failed coup attempt.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
More than 50,000 people have been either arrested, suspended or sacked in an unprecedented government crackdown.
BREAKING: No obstacle to extending Turkey's state of emergency beyond initial three months – Erdogan tells Reuters pic.twitter.com/ofaLskMUcx
— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) July 21, 2016
Erdoğan used the occasion to speak to a wider audience:“We will show the videos of these attacks to the world through our Foreign Ministry. We will send videos and pictures of the attacks on various places. After seeing the pictures, I hope that they will no longer call the government and the president who was elected by people a dictator.”
Opposition parties which stood against the coup have now expressed concern that the state of emergency
imposed will allow the president, long accused of suppressing free speech, to further consolidate power.