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| Pro-Erdogan supporters wave Turkish national flags during a rally at Taksim square in Istanbul on July 18, 2016 |
Turkish
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday declared a three-month state of
emergency in Turkey in order to hunt down all those deemed to be behind an
attempted coup.
The state
of emergency was needed "in order to remove swiftly all the elements of
the terrorist organisation involved in the coup attempt," he said at the
presidential palace in Ankara.
Turkey has
accused the group of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen of being behind the coup
and acting as a terror group. Gulen vehemently denies the charge.
"The
decision has been made to declare the state of emergency for a period of three
months," he said at a news conference.
He said the
state of emergency is a measure "against the terror threat facing our
country".
The
announcement followed long meetings of Turkey's national security council and
cabinet chaired by Erdogan at the presidential palace.
Erdogan
vowed that democracy would not be compromised in Turkey.
"We
have never made compromises on democracy. And we will never make" them,
Erdogan told a news conference in Ankara.
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