As dust settled on Turkey after the Friday night coup attempt which failed before the daybreak on Saturday, no fewer than 265 persons have been reported dead, 1,440 others injured while 2,839 soldiers were reportedly arrested.
Some soldiers announced the forceful takeover of government on Friday night in the media and deployed armoured tanks around the country, especially in Istanbul and Ankara.
However, by the time the coup attempt crumbled, 2,839 soldiers, including high-ranking officers, have been arrested. The Prime Minister of Turkey, Binali Yildirim, confirmed these figures.
In a night which he described as a “black stain on Turkish democracy,” Yildirim said 265 people have been killed and 1,440 wounded.
After explosions and gunfire were heard in Ankara, Istanbul and other parts of the country, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked Turks to rise up against the coup plotters, which probably led to the failure of the coup as civilians blocked the passage of the coup plotters and attacking them in some instance.
President Erdogan blamed a “parallel structure” for the coup plot.
Some reports have it that this was in a clear reference to Fethullah Gulen, a powerful but reclusive US-based Muslim cleric, Erdogan accused of fomenting unrest.
However, in a statement, Gulen rejected any suggestion he had links to the coup, even as he condemned “in the strongest terms, the attempted military coup in Turkey.”
Yildirim said the situation was now “completely under control” and the government’s commanders were now back in charge. [myad]
