State of emergency to remain until security situation stabilizes

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday said the country's state of emergency will remain until the security situation is stable at a ceremony regarding July 15 human rights violations held at Ankara Chamber of Commerce (ATO) Congresium.

"He (Fethullah Gulen) says ‘I will go to Turkey if the US lets me. You know what the consequences will be if you arrive. You do not have the heart to do so", he said.

"If Turkey was not a state of law or the country was not looking out for justice, the tens of thousands of traitors would have been lying in ditches and not in jails," he added.

Ankara considers Fethullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) and its US-based leader Fethullah Gulen to be behind the attempted coup on July 15, which claimed 249 lives and left 2000 wounded.

Turkey also accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary.

TRT World's Hasan Abdullah has more.

Mass dismissals

Turkey dismissed more than 7,000 police, civil servants and academics over suspected links to FETO on Friday, the eve of the anniversary of last year's attempted coup.

The latest decree is part of measures triggered by the failed coup, which Turkey says was organised by US-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen.

In all, Turkey has sacked or suspended more than 150,000 officials and arrested some 50,000 people from the military, police, judiciary, academia and other sectors.

The latest decree dismissed 2,303 police, including some from senior ranks, alongside 302 academics from universities across the country. The decree also stripped 342 retired officers and soldiers of their ranks and grades.