Turkey’s President triumphantly rallied supporters after prayers at a mosque Friday as his Government announced new details about the state of emergency imposed after an attempted coup.
The changes included extending the period that suspects can be detained without charges to up to a week.
“Victory belongs to the faithful,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told hundreds of people outside a mosque in Ankara, the capital. He said pro-government protesters faced down guns and tanks during the July 15 uprising and accused followers of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, the alleged director of the uprising, of mocking the Turkish people.
Gulen has strongly denied any knowledge of the attempted military coup.
“Here is the army, here is the commander!” the crowd in Ankara chanted. They also called for the reintroduction of the death penalty for use against coup plotters, a request that Erdogan has said he would consider despite concerns that it would violate Turkey’s international commitments and rupture ties with Europe.
Germany has expressed concern about the rule of law in Turkey, saying several people detained in the wake of the failed coup appeared to have been mistreated.