An attempted military coup in Turkey appeared to have failed as at the early hours of Saturday after crowds answered President Tayyip Erdogan’s call to take to the streets to support their democracy.
Erdogan, who had been on holiday on the southwest coast at the time of the military struck, was back in Istanbul before dawn on Saturday. He was seen on TV appearing among a crowd of supporters outside Ataturk Airport.
Erdogan later told reporters in a shabby press conference that the military officers behind the coup were being arrested. The uprising was an “act of treason”, and those responsible would pay a heavy price, he said. The arrests of officers is expected to go higher up the ranks and might end in a cleansing of the military, he said.
Soldiers took control of the airport soon after Erdogan had landed, witnesses told Reuters. And a senior official later said the soldiers were loyal to the government.
In a night of confusion, gunfire and explosions rocked both Istanbul and the capital Ankara in a after soldiers tried to seize power by ordering state television to read out a statement declaring they had taken power.
Senior Turkish official confirmed that42 people had been killed in the violence in Ankara alone, most of them civilians. More deaths were also reported in Istanbul.
According to Reuters, about 30 pro-coup soldiers surrendered their weapons after being surrounded by armed police in Istanbul’s central Taksim square. They were driven into custody in police vans.
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