A second advisory came against heading to Turkey until the situation improves. After the military was ejected, Tijen Karas, the female anchor who said she was forced to read the military statement earlier in the evening, told the crowd around her: “We were taken over”.
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Gulen has harshly condemned the attempted coup attempt by military officers that resulted in a night of explosions, air battles and gunfire that left dozens dead.
If successful, the overthrow of President Tayyip Erdogan, who has ruled Turkey since 2003, would amount to one of the biggest shifts in power in the Middle East in years.
Supporters argued Erdogan was the first Turkish leader to put the military in its place beneath the elected civilian leadership. Washington has never found any evidence particularly compelling previously.
Mr Gulen moved to the United States in 1999 and now lives in a gated home in a small town in the Pocono Mountains.
A British Airways spokeswoman said: “We are keeping flights to Turkey under review. I categorically deny such accusations”, he added.
In a statement, the interim Syrian government declared that the Syrian people “stand by the state of Turkey, its president, and its democratically elected government”.
In a statement issued after a meeting with his national security advisers Obama also urged those in Turkey to show restraint and avoid violence or bloodshed.
Parliamentarians on Saturday held an emergency session, broadcast live on national TV, to discuss the response to the situation.
Gulen, 75, was once a close Erdogan ally, but the two fell out in recent years as Erdogan became suspicious of the so-called Gulenist movement’s powerful presence in Turkish society, including in the media, police and judiciary.
Turkey’s Police Chief Celalettin Lekesiz says 16 coup plotters have been killed in clashes at Turkey’s military police command.
Erdogen said the coup is now over and the government is now in control. Armenian citizens or Armenians did not suffer in the Turkish military operations.
One of the wealthiest countries in the world, Qatar is home to the largest US air base in the Middle East, Al Udeid, where around 10,000 military personnel are stationed. A coup against the democratically elected government could make it hard for the United States to continue to cooperate with Turkey.
“All of that continues as before”, Kerry said. He said the lower officers had rebelled against senior officers.
Police Chief Celalettin Lekesiz has said that 16 of the people who plotted the coup have been killed.
Erdogan, whose Islamist-rooted ideology lies at odds with supporters of modern Turkey’s secular principles, said the plotters had tried to attack him in the resort town of Marmaris.
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“Based on the number of deaths and the way it was carried out, this attempted coup can be also called an act of terror”, he said.
