ISTANBUL: European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn on Thursday urged Turkey to respect the rule of law, rights and freedoms after declaring a state of emergency following a failed military coup.
The EU is “concerned” about developments after Turkey imposed emergency rule earlier in the day and measures taken so far in the fields of education, judiciary and media are “unacceptable”, Mogherini and Hahn said in a statement.
Tens of thousands of public-sector workers have been sacked, suspended or detained as the government seeks to purge its bureaucracy of suspects behind the attempted intervention on July 15. Officials blame a religious movement for the plot.
Any temporary suspension of the European Convention of Human Rights must follow the rules of derogation, they said without elaborating, after a Turkish deputy prime minister said Turkey would do so during emergency rule.
(Reporting by Ece Toksabay; Writing by Ayla Jean Yackley; Editing by David Dolan)
Reuters
