A senior government official has signalled that Turkey may once again extend its state of emergency.

“The need for an extension of the state of emergency is apparent. If parliament approves it, the state of emergency will be extended again,” Deputy PM Bekir Bozdag said on April 5, Hurriyet Daily News reported.

The government introduced emergency rule as far back as July 20, 2016 in the wake of the failed coup attempt. In January this year, it was extended for a sixth time. The emergency regime, giving President Recep Tayyip Erdogan the power to rule by decree, is scheduled to expire on April 19.

There have been calls from business chambers of commerce and European Union representatives for the state of emergency to be brought to an end and on March 20 the human rights office of the United Nations called on Turkey to dissolve it, saying it was having a "chilling effect" on Turkish society by demonstrating that any dissent would be punished. Turkey, according to country rankings issued by Freedom House, is no longer even 'Partly free', and it has become the world's biggest jailer of journalists.

Under emergency rule, tens of thousands of people have been arrested, more than 150,000 people have been dismissed from their jobs and hundreds of companies have been seized by the Turkish authorities and placed under the management of the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund.

The purges, which have targeted wide swathes of society including academics, doctors and students, have been targeted at people state authorities have alleged are linked to the Gulenist network which is blamed by the government for masterminding the coup plot.