Gov’t to issue last decree law for post-state of emergency period: Turkish PM

ANKARA

The Turkish government will issue a final decree law on July 6 as precaution for the post-state of emergency period, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım has said, heralding the end of the state of emergency.

“We will issue a final decree law tomorrow. The last decree law will include necessary regulations in order to avoid weakness in the fight against terrorism in the period when the state of emergency is lifted,” Yıldırım told state-run Anadolu Agency on July 5.

He recalled that the state of emergency will end on July 18, and the government has to submit a motion to the parliament for its lifting before then. If the government does not initiate the motion, the state of emergency will be lifted naturally on July 18, he added.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his ally, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli, agreed not to extend the state of emergency, local media reported last week.

Erdoğan and Bahçeli discussed the issue on June 27 during their first face-to-face meeting after the June 24 election in which the “People’s Alliance,” formed by Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the MHP, won a parliamentary majority.

Bahçeli and Erdoğan discussed a formula of making amendments in relevant laws for the struggle against terror, such as the anti-terror law and the penal code, so that lifting of the state of emergency will not cause “weakness” in fight against FETÖ and the PKK.

The state of emergency was first imposed on July 20, 2016, five days after a bloody coup attempt in Turkey. It has been extended every three months since then.

Emergency rule was most recently extended with the votes of the AKP and the MHP in parliament on April 18.

During his campaign for the country’s twin presidential and parliamentary elections, Erdoğan vowed to lift the implementation after the polls.