Both sides claim to be holding power.
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Turkey is host to important USA and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation military facilities. Perhaps the return of war in the country’s Kurdish south-east gave the army the impression that it could also have back its influence in how the government is run.
Soguel reported from Istanbul.
Low-flying jets and helicopters continue to buzz the capital Ankara as Turkish soldiers block bridges and roll tanks through neighborhoods.
“Our Embassy and Consulates in Turkey continue to provide updates to USA citizens in Turkey”.
The coup attempt began late Friday, with a statement from the military saying it had seized control “to reinstall the constitutional order, democracy, human rights and freedoms, to ensure that the rule of law once again reigns in the country, for the law and order to be reinstated”.
“Support to the elected (Turkish) government”, a spokesman for Merkel said. We do not want the same hardships to be relived. “Our people should know that we will not allow any activity that would harm democracy”. In the first hours of the coup attempt, airports were shut, access to internet social media sites was cut off, and troops sealed off the two bridges over the Bosphorus in Istanbul, one of which was still lit up in red, white and blue in solidarity with victims of the truck attack in France the previous day.
Erdogan called on Turks to take to the streets across the country, and many did, marching through the streets of Izmir and Istanbul, waving Turkish flags and gathering in the main square in Ankara.
Celebratory gunfire erupted in Syria’s capital Damascus as reports emerged that Erdogan had been toppled, and people took the streets to celebrate there and in the government-held section of the divided city of Aleppo. We will not abandon our country to these invaders.
Early in the evening a senior European Union source monitoring the situation said: “It looks like a relatively well orchestrated coup by a significant body of the military, not just a few colonels”.
Soldiers blocked entry to Istanbul’s main Ataturk Airport, where four tanks were stationed, according to the private Dogan news agency. Flight websites show no departing flights from Istanbul.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the nation Saturday that his government was working to crush a coup attempt after a night of explosions, air battles and gunfire across the capital that left at least 17 dead and scores wounded. 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. I was forced by men with arms and they told us that they would not harm us if we did as told”. The studio is now being emptied. Minutes later, Erdoğan appeared on CNN via Facetime urging people to protest on the streets, adding: “This [attempt] was done from outside the chain of command”. He said the lower officers had rebelled against senior officers. That is a key requirement of a successful coup. He said the government remains in control and that an attempted mutiny by junior officers has been thwarted. The wire service also reported a military jet shot down a military helicopter over the city, and possible police casualties, according to state-run news agency Anadolu news.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he had called Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu to express his government’s “absolute support for Turkey’s democratically-elected, civilian government and democratic institutions”. A coup against the democratically elected government could make it hard for the United States to continue to cooperate with Turkey.
Turkey was scheduled to attend a meeting near Washington next week of the USA -led anti-Islamic State coalition, although it was unclear if the attempted coup would affect that. A curfew is also in place.
“I urge the Turkish people to convene at public squares and airports”. I am following events in Turkey closely and with concern.
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation chief Jens Stoltenberg called for “calm and restraint, and full respect for Turkey’s democratic institutions and its constitution”, adding that the country was “a valued North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally”.
Erdogan said he was still president and Turkey’s commander in chief, promising that plotters would pay a “very heavy price”.
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It was not clear exactly who within the military was behind the coup attempt, or how widespread support was in the military. Our Embassy is monitoring the situation closely.
