Turkey coup put down

Ankara, July 16 

The Turkish authorities today regained control of the country after thwarting a coup attempt by discontented soldiers to seize power from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

After the bloodiest challenge to his 13-year autocratic rule, Erdogan urged his backers to stay on the streets to prevent a possible “flare-up”. With at least 2,839 soldiers already detained in a relentless round-up over the coup plot, the authorities blamed the conspiracy on Erdogan’s arch enemy, US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen.

TV pictures showed dozens of soldiers surrendering after the failed coup, some with their hands on their head, others forced to the ground in the streets. “The situation is completely under control,” Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said, flanked by Turkey’s top general who was taken hostage. 

Yildirim said 161 persons had been killed in the night of violence and 1,440 wounded. The toll did not appear to include 104 rebel soldiers killed overnight, bringing the overall death toll to 265. 

During a night where power was in the balance, large crowds of supporters of Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) marched out onto the streets to block the attempt to overthrow the regime. “We should keep on owning the streets tonight, no matter at what stage (the coup attempt is) because a new flare-up could take place at any moment,” Erdogan said.

TV pictures showed extensive damage to the parliament building in Ankara that was bombed by rebel jets. Yesterday’s putsch bid began with rebel F-16 jets screaming low over rooftops in Ankara, soldiers and tanks taking to the streets and multiple explosions throughout the night in the capital and the country’s biggest city, Istanbul.

As protesters poured onto the streets, troops opened fire, leaving dozens wounded. There was chaos in Istanbul as angry crowds jeered the passing tanks.

Erdogan, who flew back from the holiday resort of Marmaris, denounced the coup attempt as “treachery” and said the plotters would pay a heavy price. 

Turkey’s once-powerful military has long considered itself the guardian of the secular state founded by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1923. It has staged three coups since 1960 and forced out an Islamic government in 1997.

Erdogan  pinned the blame on “the parallel state” and “Pennsylvania” — a reference to Gulen, his arch-enemy whom he has always accused of seeking to overthrow him. But the President's former ally “categorically” called the accusation “insulting”. — AFP