MHP leader supports Erdoğan on extension of state of emergency

The state of emergency should continue until all remnants of the July 15 coup attempt are cleared, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli said Nov. 29, echoing President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

"The state of emergency should continue until the roots of the July 15 terrorism are eradicated, until terrorist organizations like the PKK [outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party] and DEASH [the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant] are wiped away from Turkey," Bahçeli said in a party group meeting in parliament on Nov. 29.

"The extension of the period of the state of emergency is something that government handles. If they think they have accomplished those tasks, they can lift it. But as the MHP, we fully support the state of emergency," he said.

His comments came after Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım signaled that Turkey's state of emergency could be lifted before the country votes in a potential referendum on a new charter, while Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş also said the government wanted to see it lifted soon.

Bahçeli said the state of emergency would not affect the voting process of the referendum. 

"What is the inconvenience in that?" he asked. "You leave home under a state of emergency, you go to work and continue your daily routines. You can go and vote on the day."

His remarks came after Erdoğan's earlier comments on the continuation of the state of emergency.

"The government and parliament could extend the length of the state of emergency. What's it to you? Does the European Parliament rule this country or the government [of Turkey]? Know your limits! Those days are over," Erdoğan said Nov. 27 in response to a European Parliament motion to recommend a temporary...