Suspects in Turkey can now be detained for up to 30 days without charges and the government can listen in on all conversations they have with their lawyers under a decree issued by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, according to the Resmi Gazette, an official government publication.
It is the first measure implemented under new powers granted to the President by a three-month state of emergency declaration issued Thursday.
It is expected to be ratified by parliament, where Erdogan’s AKP party holds the majority.
Before the July 15 coup attempt, Turkey’s detention period without charges was 24 hours, extendable to up to four days.
The government also shut down over 2,000 institutions linked to the cleric Fethullah Gulen, Edogan’s longtime rival who has been in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999.
Erdogan accuses Gulen of being behind the coup attempt and has requested his extradition from the United States. Gulen and his supporters accuse Erdogan of using the “state of emergency” declaration “to solidify his power and persecute his critics.”
Massive roundups
This week Turkey fired or suspended 50,000 people from the country’s institutions and security forces including judges, teachers police and journalists.
More thank 9,000 soldiers have been arrested since the coup. On Saturday 1,200 were released, according to government officials.
Secular Party plans rally
Turkey’s secular Republican People’s Party, CHP, has planned a rally for Sunday. The party opposed the coup attempt and supported Erdogan, but it voted against his state of emergency declaration.
On Friday, CHP organizers invited Erdogan’s AKP supporters to the rally and they agreed.
The secularists have said their denouncement of the coup does not mean carte blanche for the measures the government will try to enact in the failed coup’s wake.
Both sides have agreed that flags bearing the image of Turkey’s founding father Ataturk and the national flag would be the only symbols on display at the rally, which could mark a rare show of solidarity for a country that has failed to stand together in the aftermath of several terror attacks this year.
The government’s response to the rally will also be widely seen as a test of its commitment to democratic freedoms.
