In modern times it has become a fashion staple for nations to unite under a coalition to combat a common enemy and most of the time it has been either been against a tyrant like Saddam Hussein or against a deadly terrorist group like Daesh, which had occupied huge chunks of Iraq and Syria.

In recent years it seems like terrorist gangs have also forged a coalition that has targeted Turkey. The country is facing a terrorist offensive not only primarily from the secessionist PKK but it is also being targeted by Daesh, the left-wing Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C), and last but not least, Fetullah Gülen's gang, the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), not to mention several other micro-terrorist organizations.

On July 15, 2016 Turkey faced the greatest tragedy in its history when military personnel affiliated to the Fetullah Gülen staged an unsuccessful but bloody coup that cost 251 lives and wounded more than 2,000 people.

Thanks to the masses that flocked to the streets in Ankara and Istanbul the coup was crushed and most of the people who were involved in the coup were caught red-handed. Instead of killing these people on the spot like in totalitarian states, Turkish authorities opted to deal with them through the power of law and thus sent them all to jail to be tried in courts. Those court hearings are still ongoing.

But the coup showed that a massive crackdown was needed against Gülen and his terrorist group, which had infiltrated into all state offices, the judiciary as well as the military, police, the business world and the press. So, on July 20, 2016 a state of emergency was declared to deal with this group, who had been terrorizing our people for the past several years.

Until now, time has proven that this is the most docile state of emergency rule that Turkey has ever experienced. The ordinary people of Turkey do not feel that a state of emergency is being applied as the powers given by emergency rule are only applied to terrorists. Most people call this a "light state of emergency." In the past, such state of emergencies and martial law rules have always been extremely harsh and have actually harassed ordinary citizens. Not this time!

So now the government has decided to extend the state of emergency by another three months - subjected to the approval of Parliament. That is only normal regarding the fact that states like France have imposed emergency rule and have kept it going for extended periods after terrorist attacks by only Daesh.

After deadly terrorist attacks, including the use of suicide bombers in Ankara and Istanbul, the PKK went as far as to try to create terrorist enclaves in eastern and southeastern Turkey in 2016. Turkey responded by crushing the PKK's killers and restoring law and order and then starting to wipeout the PKK elements inside Turkey through effective security operations. The emergency rule measures helped the authorities cope with the PKK menace more effectively.

Besides that, the emergency rule has helped the authorities deal with Daesh more effectively, so much so that Turkey has managed to foil plots by dozens of suicide bombers. Ankara has netted more than five thousand foreign fighters trying to transit to and from Syria and has captured more than a thousand homegrown Daesh militants.

Thus, the state of emergency has been successful but the fight has not ended. We need these extraordinary measures to foil more would-be attacks from all these terrorist groups. Hence the extension of the "light state of emergency."