Coup in Turkey as Military Faction Attempts to Topple Erdogan

ISTANBUL – Elements of the Turkish military late Friday announced that they had taken control of the country in a coup against the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

In an announcement made on the state-run TRT television channel at just after 11:15 PM local time, the coup plotters informed civilians that martial law had been imposed and that all civilians should return to their homes.

Calling itself a “peace council”, the military group’s statement on TRT claimed that the democratic and secular rule of law had been eroded by the current government and that a new constitution would be immediately drafted for the strategic Muslim nation of 80 million people.

It still remains unclear which military units participated in the coup attempt and which responded to it.

The state-run Turkish news outlet Anadolu Agency – widely regarded as an unofficial mouthpiece for the Erdogan regime – reported early Saturday that the coup plotters included Colonel Muharrem Kos, Colonel Mehmet Oguz Akkus and Lieutenant Colonel Agin Ercan Dogan Uysa.

Military units have taken control of Ataturk international airport in Istanbul, and communication channels including Twitter, Facebook and most state television channels have been blocked.

Explosions have been heard in both the capital Ankara and Istanbul, tanks loyal to the coup plotters also appeared on the streets of both cities and an unknown number of fighter jets and helicopter gunships appeared in the skies of Turkey’s main cities.

Speaking to CNN Turk via a FaceTime app on his iPhone, Erdogan said that a "parallel structure" was responsible for the coup.

He and other members of his government have used this term in the past to refer to Fethullah Gulen, a US-based moderate Muslim cleric that was once a close ally of Erdogan. Prior to Friday’s coup attempt, Erdogan has frequently accused Gulen and his religiously-based Hizmet Movement of fomenting unrest in Turkey.

The coup comes only weeks after Erdogan announced that any residual elements of Gulen’s Hizmet Movement would be “fundamentally cleansed” from all government bodies.

Coup plotter Kos had served as a legal advisor of the Turkish armed forces until before he was recently sacked. 

While speaking via FaceTime Erdogan urged his legions of mostly conservative, religious supporters to take to the streets and put down the coup.

"I urge the Turkish people to convene at public squares and airports. I never believed in a power higher than the power of the people," Erdogan said via FaceTime.

Erdogan’s exact location was unclear at the time of the start of the coup.

Unconfirmed reports said he was on holiday in the Mediterranean resort city of Marmaris, but later reappeared in Istanbul at just after 3:30 AM local time on Saturday.

Supporters of Erdogan and his Islamist Freedom and Justice Party (AKP) gathered on Istanbul's central Taksim Square as reports of the attempted coup emerged.

Troops loyal to the plotters blocked traffic across the Bosphorus and Fatih Sultan Mehmet bridges in Istanbul, and blocked ferries from crossing the famed waterway that separates the European and Asia halves of the city.

Military factions who supported the coup also halted all incoming and outgoing air traffic at Istanbul’s airports.

Within hours of the start of the coup, Reuters news agency reported that several soldiers that has sided with the plotters began surrendering to police and army special forces units, while other groups barricaded near Taksim Square were being surrounded by pro-Erdogan security units.

According to reports by the BBC, clashes between pro- and anti-government supporters broke out near Taksim before the anti-Erdogan groups were dispersed by security personnel and low-flying F-16 fighter jets.

As the night dragged into early Saturday, there were strong indications that the coup leaders had failed to garner widespread support in the military and security services and the uprising was beginning to fizzle out in Istanbul.

State-run media reports said rebel soldiers in some areas of the city have been surrendering their weapons to police loyal to Erdogan.

The surrender of one unit of 60 soldiers, who had taken control of one of the Bosphorus bridges, was shown live on TV late Saturday morning.

More importantly, Ataturk airport was recaptured by pro-government special forces units and flights - which had been interrupted for hours - were due to resume from 06:00 AM, local time.

The situation in Ankara appeared far more volatile as multiple reports said the Turkish parliament had been hit by several large explosions.

Conflicting reports by Turkey’s deeply fractious media outlets claimed that various ministry buildings and the Head of the Turkish Armed Forces Hulusi Akar had been taken hostage by the coup plotters.

Turkey’s state-run Anadolu News Agency said 17 police officers had been killed in a military helicopter attack by coup plotters on a police special forces headquarters outside the city. There were also reports that fighter jets had shot down a military helicopter used by supporters of the coup.

Other reports said soldiers were inside buildings of the TRT and CNN Turk in Ankara where heavy gunfire had been heard near the studios.

At least 261 people, including 161 civilians and 100 rebel troops, had been killed and over 1,000 wounded in the fighting, Reuters reported Saturday.

Turkey’s intelligence service, the MiT – once a bulwark of secular republicanism, now headed by intensely loyal Erdogan-ally Hakan Fidan – said the coup had failed and 1,563 military plotters had been arrested by Saturday afternoon.

International reaction to the events in Turkey has been swift and fluid.

While on a visit to Moscow, US Secretary of State John Kerry said he hoped for peace and "continuity" in Turkey.

Newly appointed British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said he was "very concerned" by events.

Russian Foreign Ministry Sergey Lavrov said Moscow was watching the events closely and hoped “bloodshed could be avoided at all costs.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman said, "democratic order must be respected" in Turkey and everything must be done to protect human lives."

"Stability, democracy and safety of Turkish people are paramount. Unity and prudence are imperative," Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on his Twitter account.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Turkey was "a valued member", and called for "calm and restraint, and full respect for Turkey's democratic institutions".

Neighboring countries Greece, Cyprus and Georgia, all of which share porous land and sea borders with Turkey, called emergency council meetings of its defense and foreign ministries and placed their border guards on high alert.

Since being founded from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire in 1923 by former military leader Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the Turkish Republic – a member of the NATO military alliance – has been rocked by coups in 1960, 1971, 1980 and 1997.

The military had long seen itself as the guardian of the secular system, which it claims has been destroyed by Erdogan’s brand of political Islam and his own autocratic governing style, which includes a growing personality cult.

By Nicholas Waller

Cover Photo: AP/Emrah Gurel