Opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Chairman Devlet Bahçeli called for an extension of the state of emergency and he stressed that the continuation of the state of emergency is a national obligation as the threat of the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) still continues in state institutions.

"The state of emergency cannot be ended before cleaning out all FETÖ members. All attempts to end the state of emergency should be considered as carelessness. Thus, the continuation of the state of emergency is a national obligation," MHP Chairman Bahçeli told his fellow party members speaking at his weekly party group meeting in Parliament yesterday.

"We will not allow those people who want to end the state of emergency. We are not in a normal situation to end it," Bahçeli saidm, adding that "the threat is not over yet."

Turkey declared a state of emergency on July 20, 2016 following a deadly coup attempt by FETÖ, which killed 250 people and left 2,200 injured. Gülen has led a long-running campaign to overthrow the Turkish state through the infiltration of public institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary, forming what the government has called the "parallel structure."

"The extension of the state of emergency is of historic importance. FETÖ members still posed a threat to the Turkish state through its ‘crypto members,' or ‘sleeper cells,'" Bahçeli said.

In a recent survey, around 64.2 percent of the Turkish public said they were not concerned about the state of emergency that was imposed in the wake of the July 15 coup attempt on July 21, 2016. In comparison, some 30.4 percent of participants voice their concerns over the state of emergency. The survey, conducted by the Objective Research Company (ORC), interviewed 2,680 people in 34 provinces between Jan. 12 and Jan. 14.

‘‘Those people who are against the state of emergency in the Republican People's Party [CHP], the Turkish Industrialists and Business Association [TÜSİAD], the EU and the U.N. are not able to understand the survival problems that Turkey faces," he added.