Turkey quashes anti-Erdogan coup d’etat leaving 161 dead

This news has been read 7454 times!

ANKARA, Turkey, July 16, (Agencies): Forces loyal to Turkey’s president quashed a coup attempt in a night of explosions, air battles and gunfire that left at least 161 people dead and 1,440 wounded Saturday. Authorities arrested thousands as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed that those responsible “will pay a heavy price for their treason.”

The chaos came amid a period of political turmoil in Turkey — a NATO member and key Western ally in the fight against the Islamic State group — that critics blame on Erdogan’s increasingly authoritarian rule. Staying in power by switching from being prime minister to president, Erdogan has shaken up the government, cracked down on dissidents, restricted the news media and renewed fighting with Kurdish rebels.

The government has also come under pressure from the millions of refugees in Turkey who have fled violence in neighboring Syria and Iraq, and a series of bloody attacks in Turkey blamed on the Islamic State group and Kurdish rebels. Erdogan was on a seaside vacation when tanks rolled into the streets of Ankara and Istanbul. He flew home early Saturday and declared the coup to have failed.

“They have pointed the people’s guns against the people. The president, whom 52 percent of the people brought to power, is in charge. This government brought to power by the people is in charge,” Erdogan told large crowds after landing at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport. The uprising appears not to have been backed by the most senior ranks of the military, and Turkey’s main opposition parties quickly condemned the attempted overthrow of the government.

Gen Umit Dundar said the plotters were mainly officers from the Air Force, the military police and the armored units. Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said 161 people were killed and 1,440 wounded in the violence, and 2,839 plotters were detained. A source at the office of the presidency, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with government rules, said the toll of 161 “excludes assailants” — which could mean the death toll is much higher. Yildirim described the night as “a blamark on Turkish democracy” and said the perpetrators “will receive every punishment they deserve.” His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah sent on Saturday a cable to Erdogan congratulating him on restoring the legitimacy and democracy of the Turkish government in the wake of the upheaval in that country.

His Highness the Amir applauded President Erdogan for safeguarding the nation’s constitutional order that was instrumental in averting the agony of the Turkish people much agony and bloodshed. Further, His Highness the Amir noted in his cable the support Turkey garnered from numerous countries in restoring peace and order to the nation. His Highness the Amir expressed his deeply felt condolences to families of the deceased while wishing speedy recovery to the injured, and praying at the same time for Turkey to have security, stability and prosperity.

His Highness the Deputy Amir and Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah also sent similar cables. Meanwhile, Kuwaiti charter flight, leaving Turkey later this evening, has been arranged to transport Kuwaiti citizens back home in the wake of recent turbulent events in Turkey, announced a statement by the Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry on Saturday.

The Kuwaiti charter flight will depart from Ataturk International Airport in Istanbul, in concert with efforts by the ministry in conjunction with the Kuwait embassy in Ankara and the Kuwait consulate in Istanbul, said the statement. All Kuwaiti citizens willing to be on board that flight from Istanbul should make their wishes known to the Kuwaiti embassy and the consulate in Turkey using the following phone nos. : 00905331648479 or 00905495495494 or 00905433878989 or 00905333060644 or 00905333088444.

This news has been read 7454 times!