Al Jazeera News :
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has spoken defiantly to crowds of jubilant supporters in Istanbul, vowing to stay in power hours after an army faction dramatically tried to topple the government.
Erdogan’s arrival in Istanbul from the coastal city of Marmaris came after Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told broadcaster NTV on Saturday that the situation in the country was “largely under control”.
The army’s acting chief of staff, Umit Dundar, told a news conference that 104 coup plotters had been killed. He said that 90 other people had been killed in violence, adding that 47 of them were civilians.
Yildirim told a news conference that 1,440 people had been injured and 2,839 military personnel had been detained. The permanent
army chief of staff, Hulusi Akar, was freed by government forces having been held hostage at an army base in Ankara for a period, an official told Al Jazeera. Speaking at a news conference, Erdogan said the attempt to push him from power was “an act of treason” and that those behind the plot would “pay a heavy price”. He said he intended to stay with his “people” and not go anywhere. “Shortly after I left [Marmaris] I have been told they bombed the locations where I was,” he told reporters. “I assume they thought I was still there when they bombed those places.” Speaking to thousands of supporters outside Ataturk Airport on Saturday morning, Erdogan said the coup plotters had pointed “the people’s guns against the people.
“The president, whom 52 percent of the people brought to power, is in charge,” Erdogan said. “This government brought to power by the people, is in charge. They won’t succeed as long as we stand against them by risking everything.” As he spoke, live footage showed dozens of soldiers involved in the coup surrendering on one of the bridges across the Bosphorus in Istanbul, abandoning their tanks with their hands raised in the air.
“Clearly the cleansing of the military from those elements who joined or supported the coup is already under way,” Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst, Marwan Bishara, said.
“This is going to continue for days to come, and I think there are probably going to be tribunals within the military to see who supported the coup.”
Greek officials said a Turkish military helicopter landed in the city of Alexandroupolis, close to the border, and that eight people had claimed asylum. Turkey’s foreign minister said the government had requested their extradition. There were still pockets of resistance in the capital Ankara into Saturday morning, an official told Al Jazeera. In Ankara, jets dropped bombs over the Bestepe district, where the presidential palace is located, with plumes of black smoke seen rising early on Saturday. There were also reports of an explosion at the parliament building in the capital. Al Jazeera’s Ece Goksedef, reporting from Ankara on Saturday morning (9am local time, 06:00 GMT), said the city had been quiet for several hours.
Military jets were still in the sky above the capital, but there has been no sound of fighting, Goksedef said, adding that there were only a few locations in the country where the coup plotters were holding out.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has spoken defiantly to crowds of jubilant supporters in Istanbul, vowing to stay in power hours after an army faction dramatically tried to topple the government.
Erdogan’s arrival in Istanbul from the coastal city of Marmaris came after Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told broadcaster NTV on Saturday that the situation in the country was “largely under control”.
The army’s acting chief of staff, Umit Dundar, told a news conference that 104 coup plotters had been killed. He said that 90 other people had been killed in violence, adding that 47 of them were civilians.
Yildirim told a news conference that 1,440 people had been injured and 2,839 military personnel had been detained. The permanent
army chief of staff, Hulusi Akar, was freed by government forces having been held hostage at an army base in Ankara for a period, an official told Al Jazeera. Speaking at a news conference, Erdogan said the attempt to push him from power was “an act of treason” and that those behind the plot would “pay a heavy price”. He said he intended to stay with his “people” and not go anywhere. “Shortly after I left [Marmaris] I have been told they bombed the locations where I was,” he told reporters. “I assume they thought I was still there when they bombed those places.” Speaking to thousands of supporters outside Ataturk Airport on Saturday morning, Erdogan said the coup plotters had pointed “the people’s guns against the people.
“The president, whom 52 percent of the people brought to power, is in charge,” Erdogan said. “This government brought to power by the people, is in charge. They won’t succeed as long as we stand against them by risking everything.” As he spoke, live footage showed dozens of soldiers involved in the coup surrendering on one of the bridges across the Bosphorus in Istanbul, abandoning their tanks with their hands raised in the air.
“Clearly the cleansing of the military from those elements who joined or supported the coup is already under way,” Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst, Marwan Bishara, said.
“This is going to continue for days to come, and I think there are probably going to be tribunals within the military to see who supported the coup.”
Greek officials said a Turkish military helicopter landed in the city of Alexandroupolis, close to the border, and that eight people had claimed asylum. Turkey’s foreign minister said the government had requested their extradition. There were still pockets of resistance in the capital Ankara into Saturday morning, an official told Al Jazeera. In Ankara, jets dropped bombs over the Bestepe district, where the presidential palace is located, with plumes of black smoke seen rising early on Saturday. There were also reports of an explosion at the parliament building in the capital. Al Jazeera’s Ece Goksedef, reporting from Ankara on Saturday morning (9am local time, 06:00 GMT), said the city had been quiet for several hours.
Military jets were still in the sky above the capital, but there has been no sound of fighting, Goksedef said, adding that there were only a few locations in the country where the coup plotters were holding out.
