Gunfire was also heard outside Istanbul police headquarters and tanks were said to be stationed outside the Istanbul airport. “Fifty percent of the people elected the President and that President is on duty”.
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Addressing large crowds after landing at Ataturk airport, Erdogan said of the plotters: “They have pointed the people’s guns against the people”. Turkish military forces on July 16 opened fire on crowds gathered in Istanbul following a coup attempt, causing casualties, an AFP photographer said. Prime Minister Benali Yildirim said 161 people were killed and 1,440 wounded in the overnight violence.
Gulen denied being behind the coup attempt and condemned it “in the strongest terms”.
In Washington, President Obama urged all parties in Turkey to support Erdogan’s government.
Earlier, Turkey asked Greece to return eight soldiers who fled there in a helicopter, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Twitter.
Since then, some former military officers and security analysts have warned that elements in the Turkish military want to stop Erdogan’s growing strength and create a system of checks-and-balances on the presidency.
Any country that stands by the Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen will not be a friend of Turkey and will be considered at war with the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Saturday. Gulen promotes a philosophy that blends a mystical form of Islam with staunch advocacy of democracy, education, science and interfaith dialogue.
“The coup attempt has been foiled”, General Dundar said, adding that 90 people – 41 police, 47 civilians and two military officers – “fell as martyrs”.
Erdogan’s party, the AKP, won recent elections in a mostly free and fair ballot. “Turkey has been in a very polarized state for nearly 15 years now…” “Those who stain the military’s reputation must leave”, he said. Ten members of Turkey’s highest administrative court were detained and arrest warrants were issued for 48 administrative court members and 140 members of Turkey’s appeals court, state media reported.
The attempt to seize control was backed by a faction of the Turkish military which said it wanted “to ensure and restore constitutional order, democracy, human rights and freedoms”.
About 50 soldiers involved in the coup surrendered on one of the bridges across the Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul after dawn on Saturday, abandoning their tanks. Cars flow from the European side to the Asian side, but soldiers and military vehicles block the path to the European side.
Earlier, the Turkish government said the coup was inspired by supporters of the Hizmet pro-Islamic movement, opposing Erdogan.
The Turkish parliament and presidential buildings in Ankara were attacked. Discarded gear was strewn on the ground and people, some holding flags, climbed on to the tanks.
A Turkish military commander also said fighter jets had shot down a helicopter used by the coup plotters over Ankara.
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The Dogan news agency reported that soldiers fired on a group of people trying to cross the Bosporus bridge to protest against the attempted coup, and that some people had been hurt.
