ANKARA
Turkey’s veteran Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader has called for the imposition of martial law in the face of spiraling violence.
Devlet Bahceli called for emergency powers to be adopted under Article 122 of the constitution, which allows martial law for up to six months in regions where violence is “aimed at the destruction of the free democratic order or the fundamental rights and freedoms embodied in the constitution”.
“It is obligatory to impose safety through martial law, which will encompass some parts of the country where violence and terror exist," Bahceli said in a statement.
He also called for plans to hold a fresh election to be called off in light of the renewed conflict with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in southern and eastern Turkey, where around 50 security forces personnel have been martyred since July 20.
