OBOY Military coup in Turkey as President Erdogan urges citizens to fight

Hmm.....Turkey’s military said Friday night it had seized power.

The coup plotters say they are fighting corruption and human rights abuse by government.

President Tayyip Erdogan has however vowed that the attempted coup would be put down.

Reacting, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appealed for calm.

A UN spokesman, Farhan Haq, said: “The Secretary-General is closely following developments in Turkey. He is aware of the reports of a coup attempt in the country.

“The United Nations is seeking to clarify the situation on the ground and appeals for calm.”

President Erdogan in a phone call to broadcaster CNN Turk said he remained the president of the country.

He added that he remains head of the army and called for people to take to fight the illegality.

“We will overcome this,” Erdogan said, speaking on a video call.

He called on his followers to take to the streets to defend his government and vowed that the coup plotters would pay a heavy price.
 
Dozens of soldiers backing the coup against the Turkish government on Saturday surrendered on the Bosphorus bridge in Istanbul that they had held throughout the night, television pictures showed.
The soldiers, dressed in full camouflage, walked out from behind their tank holding their hands above their heads, NTV television showed. The state-run Anadolu Agency said 50 soldiers were arrested.

Turkish President arriving at Istanbul after the failed coup attempt

An attempted Turkish military coup appeared to have failed in the early hours of Saturday after crowds answered President Tayyip Erdogan's call to take to the streets to fight for the country. The President who was on vacation when the attempted coup took place appeared in a video call to the studio of the Turkish sister channel of CNN, where an announcer held up a mobile phone to the camera to show him. He called on Turks through facetime to take to the streets to defend his government.

The Turkish president flew into Istanbul very early on Saturday and was shown on TV appearing among a crowd of supporters outside Ataturk Airport that those loyal to Gulen had 'penetrated the Armed Forces and the police, among other government agencies, over the past 40 years.'

The Turkish president warned that the members of the military behind the attack that they would pay a 'heavy price for their treason' as he blamed his rival Fethullah Gulen for planning the coup.

Muslim cleric Gulen, who lives in self-imposed exile in Saylorsburg, Philadelphia as the head of a billion dollar religious movement, has often been the scapegoat for political unrest.

'What is being perpetrated is a rebellion and a treason,' Mr. Erdogan said. 'They will pay a heavy price for their treason to Turkey.'

Turkish president

Gulen's nonprofit organization, the Alliance for Shared Values, denies any involvement and condemned the actions of the Turkish military.

A senior official said soldiers that were loyal to the government took control of the airport soon after Erdogan landed.

Rebel soldiers who had taken control of military aircraft were still firing from the air early on Saturday and fighter jets had been scrambled to intercept them, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said.

Gunfire and explosions rocked both the main city Istanbul and capital Ankara in a chaotic night after soldiers took up positions in both cities and ordered state television to read out a statement declaring they had taken power.

Turkish military has killed at least 42 people - 17 of those police officers - in the army's bid to overthrow the Islamic government. Elsewhere troops opened fire on civilians attempting to cross the river Bosporus in Istanbul in protest to the military coup, while a bomb hit the parliament building according to the state's press agency as the security situation in the country became more perilous.

Colonel Muharrem Kose reportedly lead the Turkish military forces in the uprising. Kose had recently been kicked out of the army, from his position as head of the military's legal advisory department, over his links to Gulen.

He was killed during the clashes with Erdogan's supporters, sources report. A senior official said 42 people had been killed in the violence in Ankara alone, most of them civilians. More deaths were also reported in Istanbul.

Early on Saturday, Reuters journalists saw around 30 pro-coup soldiers surrender their weapons after being surrounded by armed police in Istanbul's central Taksim square. They were taken away in police vans as a fighter jet repeatedly screeched overhead at low altitude, causing a boom that shook surrounding buildings and shattered windows.

So far, 120 connected to the attempted coup have been arrested. At least 17 police officers have been killed and several protesters have also been shot.

The dramatic coup lasted approximately five hours.



Source: Reuters/Daily Mail

At least 90 people were killed during overnight clashes in capital Ankara following an attempted coup in Turkey. Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said a new acting army chief of staff has been appointed after an attempted coup to topple the democratically elected government.

Turkish President Erdorgan has urged supporters to remain in public squares until situation returns to normal and has informed them that his govt. is still in charge.

He added that there is still a small disturbance in Ankara, hopefully it will be overcome soon, says Erdogan.

Defiant Turkish civilians were captured climbing on to tanks and yanking soldiers from their vehicles during the failed coup attempt by the nation's armed forces.

People across the capital of Ankara marched onto the streets to rise up against the army after the military intervention was staged earlier this evening.
President Erdogan had encouraged people to fight against the military planning the coup by saying:

‘They can come with their tanks and cannons and try to show what they can do, we can show the tanks who is powerful.’

"Those who are in this illegal act will pay the highest price," he added, saying it would not be correct to describe the move as a "coup". 

In a shocking onlone video groups of Erdogan supporters were seen pulling soldiers from the turret of their tank and throwing them onto the ground as they chanted in support of the Premier. In another short clip groups of men were seen chanting at soldiers rolling through the streets of the Turkish capital in tanks.

During the coup attempt, some anti govt people had celebrated military intervention by gathering on the streets and waving Turkish flags. They said they were  unhappy about the way President Erdorgan was leading the country towards an Islamic state and the way he tries to trample on religious freedom in the country. After entering the capital soldiers seized the weapons of police units near the presidential palace and there was shooting near the police HQ.

Hostages were apparently being held at the military headquarters in the capital Ankara. Military jets and helicopters circled overhead.

However, Turkey’s military have claimed in a statement that they had taken ‘full control of government’ in order to protect human rights. They said government leaders had been detained and there were reports that the state broadcaster had been stormed.

‘Turkish armed forces have completely taken over the administration of the country to reinstate constitutional order, human rights and freedoms, the rule of law and the general security that was damaged,’ said the statement.

Turkish state news agency reports a death toll of 90 dead people and 1,154 wounded in Turkey coup attempt . The report further states that nearly 1,563 soldiers at the military Headquarter surrendered and have been arrested by the Turkish Govt.



Source: AFP/Daily Mail.