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Turkey's Parliament Extends State of Emergency


A man with a Turkish flag walks past a Turkish police officer guarding the scene, during a memorial outside the Reina club following the New Year's day attack, in Istanbul, Turkey, Jan. 3, 2017.
A man with a Turkish flag walks past a Turkish police officer guarding the scene, during a memorial outside the Reina club following the New Year's day attack, in Istanbul, Turkey, Jan. 3, 2017.

Turkey's parliament has extended the country's state of emergency for three more months as authorities continue to crack down on suspected followers of exiled Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen.

The government declared emergency rule after the failed July 15 coup it says was carried out by Gulen and his followers.

Police have arrested more than 40,000 people in the wake of the coup, and 100,000 government workers and others have been suspended from their jobs for alleged ties to the Gulen movement.

Gulen lives in the eastern U.S. state of Pennsylvania. He denies any part in the attempted overthrow of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The state of emergency gives Turkish authorities the power to bypass parliament and suspend civil rights, restrict speech and close down news outlets. Suspects can be jailed without charges.

The European Union has criticized Turkey's emergency rule and has frozen membership talks with Ankara, infuriating Erdogan, who told the EU to mind its own business.

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