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Vice Prime Minister and Government Spokesperson Numan Kurtulmuş made statements to the journalists yesterday (April 17) evening, while a ministerial cabinet meeting was being held in the Presidential Palace under leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Kurtulmuş informed that the referendum process was being evaluated in the meeting and that a cabinet decision to extend the State of Emergency was submitted to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM).
State of Emergency will be extended for 3 months
As to the State of Emergency, Kurtulmuş said;
"MGK (The National Security Council) under its own responsibility, has recommended our ministerial cabinet to extend the State of Emergency. In our cabinet meeting, we discussed the recommendation of the MGK and passed the cabinet decision that the State of Emergency be extended for three months as of April 19, 2017, 01 a.m. The issue will be submitted to the TBMM. I hope that with TBMM's approval, the State of Emergency will be extended three more months".
Capital punishment issue
Upon being asked whether capital punishment would be reintroduced, Kurtulmuş said;
In accordance with the decision our nation has made on this issue, if there is a situation in which the parliament needs to introduce a law, with the help of the representatives of this nation, we will handle these issues which require a legislation. But if there is an issue, which requires a constitutional amendment and if the necessary majority is reached in the Parliament, the Parliament will take care of this issue, if there is no majority, we will refer to the people.
State of Emergency extended for the third time
Following the July 15 coup attempt, State of Emergency was declared for the first time on July 21 with 346 yes and 115 no votes.
On October 19, three-months long State of Emergency which ended, was extended for three more months.
On January 19, State of Emergency was extended for the second time and with approval of the cabinet decision by the TBMM, it will be extended for the third time. (NV/DG)
