Turkey ends state of emergency, but introduces restrictive new rules
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government finally allowed a two-year state of emergency to expire on Thursday, but opposition parties and rights groups say the new measures introduced to replace it are no different.
A two-year state of emergency in Turkey during which hundreds of thousands of people have been jailed or lost their jobs officially expired on Thursday, bringing an end to a regime that rights groups and the United Nations said was rife with abuse.
The government has promised to realign its security laws to meet universal standards, but the European Union warned the legal changes it is proposing remain far too restrictive. Opposition parties dismissed the legislative package as a ruse to create a permanent state of emergency.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan imposed emergency rule in the days following an abortive military coup on July 15, 2016, when rogue soldiers commandeered fighter jets to bomb parliament and used tanks to trample his supporters, killing some 250 people.
Emergency rule allowed Erdogan to bypass parliament and largely rule by decree — a power that has now been enshrined for his office following changes to the constitution that he designed and won approval for in a referendum last year.
