ANKARA, (APP/AFP) – President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan urged Turks to remain on the streets Saturday, as his
forces regained control after a spectacular coup bid by
discontented soldiers that claimed more than 250 lives.
After hours of chaos and violence unseen in decades,
Erdogan ended uncertainty over his whereabouts, flying into
Istanbul airport in the early hours where he was cheered
by hundreds of supporters.
“The situation is completely under control,” Prime
Minister Binali Yildirim said outside his Ankara offices,
flanked by Turkey’s top general.
Erdogan used his Twitter feed to urge people onto the
streets, warning against a new flare-up after the most dramatic
challenge to his 13 years of dominant rule.
“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,” he said.
Soldiers and tanks took to the streets late on Friday
and multiple explosions rang out throughout the night in Ankara
and Istanbul, the two biggest cities of the strategic NATO
member of 80 million people.
Describing the attempted coup as a “black stain” on
Turkey’s democracy, Yildirim said that 161 people had been
killed in the night of violence and 1,440 wounded.
This did not appear to include 104 rebel soldiers killed
overnight, in a toll given by the military.
As the dust settled on a dramatic and chaotic night, TV
pictures Saturday showed extensive damage to the parliament
building in Ankara that was bombed by rebel jets.
– ‘Treason and rebellion’ –
===========================
Crowds of flag-waving supporters of Erdogan’s ruling Justice
and Development Party (AKP) appeared to have turned the tide, defying
orders of a curfew and marching out onto the streets to block the
attempt to overthrow the regime.
Yildirim said the putsch bid had fallen apart as nearly
3,000 soldiers suspected in involvmenet were detained.
The strongman denounced the coup attempt as “treachery”,
saying he was carrying out his functions and would keep on
working “to the end”.
“What is being perpetrated is a treason and a rebellion.
They will pay a heavy price for this act of treason,” Erdogan
said at the airport. “We will not leave our country to
occupiers.”