Also detained in the sweep was Halis Hanci, an alleged senior aide to US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen – the reclusive spiritual leader whom Turkey accuses of having orchestrated the plot to overthrow Erdogan.
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The gathering was the latest show of public support for the democratic process over the plotters of the failed coup, which had attempted to wrest power from Erdogan’s government in the early hours of July 16.
There was no information on other journalists sought for questioning.
Turkey’s government is setting up an inner cabinet to oversee the state of emergency it declared after last week’s botched coup.
The Turkish leader has said the state of emergency will allow the authorities to restore order and deal with the aftermath of the failed coup effectively.
Those rounded up include almost 9,000 soldiers, 2,100 judges and prosecutors and 1,485 police, according to the president. In addition, some 50,000 workers have lost their jobs, suspected of possible ties to the coup plotters.
But in stark contrast to the broadly celebratory mood in Istanbul, human rights group Amnesty International in London claimed it had “credible evidence” of the beating and torture of post-coup detainees. Since the arrests, 1,200 troops have been released, the government said.
Amnesty’s Turkey researcher, Andrew Gardner, told The Associated Press the reported ill-treatment also included verbal abuse, threats, leaving people without food or water for days, and handcuffing them behind their backs for long periods.
“We decided that there won’t be a guards unit in this compound anymore”, he said. “But also it’s crucial that there are global monitors allowed to enter these places of detention”.
“We’re talking about the coup, not about secularity”, another told CNN’s Nic Robertson.
A week after renegade soldiers tried to oust him with guns, tanks and F16s, Erdogan’s government has detained over 12,000 people it suspects are state enemies, including nearly 300 officers of the guard shielding his Ankara palace. “Some minor difficulties can occur”, he added.
Prime Minister Binali Yildirim joined the nationalist party’s leader, Devlet Bahceli, and Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of pro-secular main opposition party, who had previously boycotted functions at the palace, citing the controversy surrounding the extravagance of the residence and because of what he called Erdogan’s divisive style of governance.
Despite high tensions since the coup attempt, the mood in Istanbul was celebratory and strongly patriotic, with security tight following a series of recent attacks by Islamic State group and Kurdish militants.
The Armed Forces Chief of General Staff, General Hulusi Akar, described the renegade soldiers as “the vile, uniformed traitors (who) damaged our country, people and our armed forces in a major way”.
“This was a moderate Muslim country that has become an Islamist dictatorship at the hands of (Turkish president) Recep Tayyib Erdogan and his affiliated Muslim Brotherhood political party”, said Mahrous, an MP from the Nile-Delta governorate of Beheira.
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Mr Erdogan told France 24 television on Saturday that the European Union was “biased and prejudiced” against Turkey. The emergency status came as a result of a failed coup. The judges were appointed to the highest administrative and appeals courts in a move critics say aimed to rid the judiciary of officials who have sometimes blocked Erdogan.
