Turks abroad could lose citizenship under tough new laws

A new law in Turkey could see nationals abroad lose their citizenship if they fail to return to the country when summonsed.

The legislation is one of a number of decrees introduced late on Friday under Turkey's intensifying state of emergency.  

The new law says citizens abroad who do not respond to judicial summons issued by courts or prosecutors within 90 days might face losing their citizenship, state news agency Anadolu reported, quoting the Turkish Official Gazette, which publishes new legislation.

The law is designed as a "preventative measure against mass attacks," Anadolu added.

Emergency rule means the government is able to bypass parliament in enacting new laws and to limit or suspend rights and freedoms when deemed necessary. 

Under the new decrees, police are also allowed to access internet users' accounts to investigate potential crimes committed online.

The decree also stipulates that private security personnel would be subject to background checks and individuals found to be "affiliated with any groups threatening national security" would not be able to work in private security companies.

Friday's decrees also give state-appointed administrators the right to sell companies they take over, pro-government newspaper Daily Sabah reported.

Hundreds of firms, many of them smaller provincial businesses, have been seized in the post-coup crackdown.

More than 100,000 people have already been suspended or sacked so far in a crackdown on those alleged to have links to coup-plotters while dozens of media outlets have been shut down.

The measures are said to target alleged supporters of Islamist preacher Fethullah Gulen, who Ankara believes is behind the attempted July coup to overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

However, the dismissals have been condemned by critics as targeting any opposition to Erdogan.

The country has been hit by two attacks this week, a mass shooting at an Istanbul nightclub - claimed by the Islamic State group - and a car bomb and gun battle in Izmir, which authorities have blamed on Kurdish militants.