NTV reported six dead had been brought to that hospital.
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Erdogan himself blamed the coup attempt on supporters of Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric who once was his ally and now, following a falling out, lives in exile in Pennsylvania.
During his FaceTime interview, Erdogan asked his supporters to take to the streets to shore up the government. Some climbed on tanks and blocked the path of military vehicles with their cars.
Turks took to the streets of cities across the country waving national flags throughout the attempted coup to show their support for the government.
A fighter jet shot down a helicopter that had been commandeered by “coup plotters”, a Turkish presidential source told CNN. While there are few facts on what sparked the uprising, videos and photos of the protesting and military forces are coming out in droves on the internet, so the world can only wonder what exactly is happening. Turkish time Friday, military members occupied government offices, shut down bridges and took over broadcasters as they carried out the attempted takeover. Erdogan has also committed Turkey’s army to an active and perilous role in Syria’s war and intensified a longstanding military campaign against Kurds, Turkey’s largest ethnic minority.
“They won’t succeed as long as we stand against them by risking everything”.
“When I stuck my head out, I could see helicopters shooting”, said Diego Cupolo, a photojournalist in Ankara.
When the coup began, soldiers blocked two bridges in Istanbul between the European and Asian sides.
Turkish authorities have accused the preacher of seeking to establish “a state within a state” in Turkey, but on Saturday he rejected “in the strongest terms” any involvement in the attempted coup.
Prime Minister Binali Yildirim has called all legislators for an emergency meeting Saturday, Anadolu reported. “There was an illegal act by a group within the military that was acting out of the chain of military command”.
Explosions and gunfire were reported overnight in Ankara and Istanbul. Reach out to us via Facebook or Twitter.
United States president Barack Obama urged all sides in Turkey to support the democratically-elected government and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said he spoke to Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and called for respect for democracy. If so, we would like to hear from you on the current situation there.
The military’s influence was thought to have abated under Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party, or AK Party, which took power in 2002.
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The Pentagon said there was no impact on operations against Islamic State from the USA air base at Incirlik in Turkey. In an attempt to consolidate his power, he had called for a new constitution that would increase the powers of the president. Under his rule, Turkey became a powerhouse in the Middle East. “The government should be won through a process of free and fair elections, not force”.
