AFTER TWO YEARS Turkey lifts state of emergency




Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and his government alliance partner MHP leader Devlet Bahceli have agreed not to extend emergency rule when the current three-month period expires in July, the pro-government Sabah newspaper said on Thursday.

The state of emergency has been in place since after an attempted coup in July 2016 and has been extended every three months since then.

Erdogan said this month it would be lifted if he won the June 24 elections.
Erdogan won 53 percent of the vote in Sunday's presidential vote, extending his rule until at least 2023 - but now with the sweeping executive powers that Turks narrowly backed in a referendum last year.
The state of emergency enables Erdogan and the government to bypass parliament in passing new laws and allows them to suspend rights and freedoms. Critics say Erdogan has used the state of emergency as a pretext to quash dissent. Turkey has said the measures are necessary to fend off security threats