The state of emergency in Turkey will be lifted in a few days, Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul said on Monday.
“While the emergency rule is in place since a failed coup in July 2016 will end, “the fight against terrorism will continue,” Gul said a day after Turkey marked the second anniversary of the attempted putsch by a faction of the military.
The state of emergency has been extended seven times, each for periods of three months.
However, the current extension will expire at 1 a.m. on Thursday.
Gul echoed what President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin confirmed last week after the first meeting of the new cabinet.
Kalin said that once emergency rule expires, it will not be renewed.
Ankara blames U.S.-based Islamic cleric and one-time Erdogan ally Fethullah Gulen for orchestrating the coup attempt on July 15, 2016.
Gulen denies involvement.
Gul said that Turkey would keep up the pressure on Gulen’s movement.
Kalin said that “nobody should be concerned that it (the fight against terrorism) will be weakened,” stopped or slowed down, adding that after emergency rule is lifted the battle would continue using anti-terrorism laws.
More than 70,000 people have been arrested in connection with the coup attempt, and more than 110,000 people have been purged from the civil service and military, according to state media.
Erdogan has said previously that the state of emergency could be reintroduced at any time if the threat of terrorism re-emerges.
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