Turkish writer: State of emergency continues in Turkey
Turkish writer and publicist Zeynel Abidin Kızılyaprak has arrived in Armenia, bringing with him good and bad news. He says Turkey has become a de facto dictatorship. The state of emergency continues in Turkey after the coup attempt of July 2016 which marked a turning point in the country’s political history. “A number of officials have been forcibly deprived of their posts,” says the writer. He says 71 000 people are now in prison, 2800 organizations, including media outlets and trade unions, have discontinued their activities. One hundred and fifty-seven news outlets have closed down and 121 000 journalists are in prison. Kurdish lawmakers are also chased: 14 of them are in prison. Sixty Kurdish mayors are also in prison, another 200 have been ousted or replaced by candidates appointed by Ankara. The good news is that Turkey has a new society that travels a lot, sees a lot and wants to have changes.
