Turkey plunged into chaos as forces loyal to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan quashed a coup attempt in a night of explosions, air battles and gunfire that left scores dead. The escalation of events was very rapid, and within 8 hours the situation changed from 17 police officers killed at Ankara’s special forces headquarters to hundreds of coup-plotters being arrested and surrendering their weapons.
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Ankara, the Turkish capital, was also the scene of high drama at the parliament building.
Gamal Eid, a prominent rights lawyer who has been banned from travelling overseas, said on Facebook that since the coup has failed, pro-democracy activists could return to criticizing Erdogan and “his animosity toward the media”.
The US embassy in Ankara added that security “at Ataturk airport is significantly diminished and US government employees have been instructed not to attempt to travel to and from Ataturk airport”.
By Saturday, some global flights – mostly through Turkish Airlines – were reported to be landing at Ataturk, including planes from San Francisco, Bangkok and Bucharest.
Meanwhile, Putin asked officials to provide everything necessary for tourists awaiting flights to Turkey in Russian airports “until the situation becomes clear”.
Erdogan, whose party won a comfortable majority in elections a year ago, then appealed to his supporters to take to the streets to protest the coup.
Erdogan, who was visiting the coastal resort of Marmaris when the coup began, had flown to the airport and emerged to greet the thousands of cheering, flag-waving supporters who had descended on the facility to eject the coup participants.
EasyJet said its advice from British authorities was to continue flying, although it was monitoring developments.
“One would be hard pressed to pick a more destabilizing place for a coup right now”, Skinner said. “They won’t succeed as long as we stand against them by risking everything”. It is the only majority-Muslim country in North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and a key partner in efforts to solve global challenges, including terrorism and mass migration, as well as being an important interlocutor with regional powers such as Iran and Russian Federation.
The death toll has risen to more than 250 (161 civilians, 104 suspected coup-plotters), 1,400 are wounded.
Still, the violence is likely to hit a tourism industry already suffering from the bombings, and business confidence is also vulnerable. I am concerned that these elements will try to take advantage of my return by putting the government in a hard position.
The reclusive preacher, who lives in a tiny town in the Pocono Mountains of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, was immediately accused by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of being behind the coup attempt.
“They blame the supporters of Fethullah Gulen for this”.
“As someone who suffered under multiple military coups during the past five decades, it is especially insulting to be accused of having any link to such an attempt”.
Gulen denies involvement in the coup. Allied New York-based Alliance for Shared Values president Y. Alp Aslandogan “categorically den (ied) such accusation”, calling it “highly irresponsible”.
Secretary of State John Kerry said Saturday the United States will help Turkey investigate a failed coup and invited Ankara to share any evidence it has against US-based opposition figure Fethullah Gulen.
“A minority group within the armed forces targeted the integrity of our country”, Erdogan told reporters at a news conference broadcast live on state television. However, by dawn the noise of fighting had died down considerably.
Dramatic images showed dozens of soldiers walking away from their tanks with their hands up on one of Istanbul’s Bosphorus bridges, after they had closed it off to traffic all night.
President Erdogan’s government said the coup had been ‘foiled by the Turkish people ‘in unity and solidarity’.
She said: “I was watching things from my terrace, watching the military vehicles on the Bosphorus Bridge and then these sonic booms started”.
Turkish security officers detain Turkish police officers (in black) in Istanbul, during a security shutdown of the Bosphorus Bridge, July 15, 2016. MPs hid in shelters.
A senior Turkish official said later on Saturday attacks on the parliament had “largely stopped”.
The declaration praised the Turkish nation for its unwavering belief in democracy and lauded citizens for taking to the streets and resisting the coup.
Turkey’s coup plotters, by all accounts, failed to do that.
“I am coming to a square in Ankara”.
Robert Amsterdam said in a statement Friday evening that he and his firm “have attempted repeatedly to warn the US government of the threat posed” by Fethullah Gulen and his movement.
Gulen is a former ally of the Erdogan who has accused the president of corruption as part of an apparent power struggle.
“In particular, we urge all those in a position of authority to reassure Britons and other foreign nationals now visiting Turkey that they are safe, and will be allowed to return home without impediment at the earliest opportunity”, she added.
A faction of the army declared that a “peace council” was now running the country, and that there would be a curfew and martial law. “We urge all parties to ensure the safety and well-being of diplomatic missions and personnel and civilians throughout Turkey”.
And these cells aren’t only a threat to Turkey itself – ISIS operatives who have come into the country from Syria are thought to be smuggling terrorists into Europe to mount attacks there.
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More than 250 people have been killed overall.
