Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told state-run Turkish media that more than 120 people have been arrested in a coup plot. Over the past 14 years, Erdogan effectively diminished the power of the military by going after prominent generals as well as judges.
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has flown in to Istanbul, after an army group said it took over the country.
Tanks and soldiers are on the streets, protesters are mustering forces, with gunfire and explosions punctuating the chaos.
The uprising was an “act of treason”, and those responsible would pay a heavy price, he later told reporters at a hastily arranged news conference.
Arrests of officers were under way, and it would go higher up the ranks, culminating in the cleansing of the military.
Footage of a auto getting crushed by a tank on the street. An official at Istanbul’s Sisli Hamidiye Etfal Training and Research Hospital said they had also received dead and wounded.
“They have pointed the people’s guns against the people”.
“They are trying to topple a government brought to power by the people’s votes”.
The government received expressions of support from members of the political opposition, including the leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) Kemal Kilicdaroglu. “We shall determine soon who they are”.
Turks appeared to heed that call early Saturday taking to the streets of Izmir and Istanbul waving Turkish flags, according to television footage.
Erdogan denounced the coup attempt as “treachery” but said he was carrying out his functions and would keep on working “to the end”.
Barack Obama and other Western leaders, who had begun Friday by pledging solidarity with France to combat Islamist terrorism, ended it with Tutkey, a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member state, a key player in the Syrian civil war whose help is needed to combat Isis, in turmoil.
Former military legal adviser Muharrem Kose was also identified as a key figure behind the insurrection, news agency Anadolu reported.
Fethullah Gulen, the US-based cleric accused by Ankara of orchestrating the coup attempt in Turkey, has a wide following in his native country, where he enjoys support among the police and judiciary.
But by early Saturday, Reuters journalists saw around 30 pro-coup soldiers surrender their weapons after being surrounded by armed police in Istanbul’s central Taksim square.
Explosions and gunfire were reported overnight in Ankara and Istanbul.
NTV television quoted the prosecutor’s office in Ankara, saying at least 42 people have been killed in “attacks” in the capital.
The White House says President Obama has been briefed on developments in key North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally Turkey where the military claims to have seized power in a coup. However, Erdogan raised doubts about that during his address, saying, “I don’t know what the situation is concerning our chief of military staff”. “We condemn any military intervention in domestic politics of Turkey”, the group said. Two other tanks and a military vehicle were stationed in front of the VIP terminal.
Following the calls of protest, many took to the streets to demonstrate against the military.
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According to CNN, Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport has reopened and news channels have begun broadcasting again, after being temporarily shut down by soldiers earlier in the night.
