State of emergency no hurdle for business in Turkey: Erdoğan

The state of emergency that was declared in Turkey in the aftermath of the failed July 2016 coup is no hurdle for business, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said May 18 amid concerns from top business figures.

"The idea that the state of emergency is preventing the current activities of our businessmen is a non-starter," Erdoğan said at the High Advisory Council (YİK) meeting of the Turkish Industry and Business Association (TÜSİAD) in Istanbul. "The state of emergency right now is a step taken to make all works in Turkey be conducted in a much healthier way," he added.

"We cannot remove the state of emergency unless peace is restored," he said.

Earlier, YİK head Tuncay Özilhan called for an end to the state of emergency for the country's aspiration to improve its freedom and plurality.

"I want to stress the importance of removing the state of emergency, [as well as the importance of] the freedom and impartiality of the judiciary, reforms in election laws, [meritocracy] in governance, freedom of expression and freedom of the press in order for Turkey to improve in a spirit of social freedom and plurality," Özilhan said.

TÜSİAD head Erol Bilecik also criticized the emergency rule in the country.

"For 10 months, we have been living in a state of emergency that we hope will not be extended," Bilecik said.

"After the referendum, we entered a period in which the executive will be strengthened in governance.
 However, powerful states are structures in which different organs balance themselves by not gathering power in a single place. This is the condition for a powerful state. The legislative, judiciary, bureaucracy, independent media, business world and civil society should also gain strength while the...