Istanbul. Mayis Alizadeh - APA. . Curfew and martial law imposed was imposed in Turkey as military said that has taken power, APA’s Turkish bureau reports.
On the evening of July 15, tense situation prevails in Ankara. The city could be heard shooting, planes flew over the city.
As noted by local journalists, all this reminds them the year of 1980, when the military coup took place in Turkey. Speaking on television channel CNN Türk, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said that the military coup was attempted in the country: “Some people illegally undertook an illegal action outside of the chain of command... But in any case, let our citizens be calm, we will do everything to maintain peace and order. Perpetrators will get the most severe punishment,” Binali Yildirim said.
At the same time in Istanbul, traffic was blocked on both bridges over the Bosphorus from the Asian to the European part of the city. Military equipment and tanks were positioned in Taksim Square, Istanbul near the airport and other parts of the city.
On state television TRT, military address to the country's citizens was read. In turn, the president of the country, Erdogan called on the Turkish people take the streets and protect democracy. In an interview with CNN, Erdogan said that the instigators of military coup will be neutralized in the near future, while hinting that the latest developments are organized by the sect led by Fethullah Gülen. “Go to the streets and give them their answer. I do not believe that those who attempted the coup, will achieve their goal. They will suffer the most severe punishment." - Turkish President said.
Coup was initiated by a group of colonels, among the conspirators there are also a few people in the rank of Major General, military source told APA. Curfew and martial law imposed on the entire territory of Turkey. After Erdogan's address, activists of the Justice and Development Party began to call people in the squares and streets.
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Baku-APA. Turkey's military said on Friday it had seized power, but President Tayyip Erdogan said the attempted coup would be put down, APA reports.
If successful, the overthrow of Erdogan, who has ruled Turkey since 2003, would be one of the biggest shifts in the Middle East in years, transforming one of the most important U.S. allies in the region while war rages on its border, APA reports quoting Reuters.
"We will overcome this," Erdogan said, speaking by mobile phone to the Turkish sister station of CNN. He called on his followers to take to the streets to defend his government and said the coup plotters would pay a heavy price.
Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said the elected government remained in office. However, it appeared that those behind the coup had the upper hand initially.
Aiports were shut, access to Internet social media sites was cut off, and troops sealed off the two bridges over the Bosphorus in Istanbul, one of which was still lit up red, white and blue in solidarity with victims of the Bastille Day truck attack in France a day earlier.
Warplanes and helicopters roared over the capital Ankara.
Soldiers took control of TRT state television, which announced a countrywide curfew and martial law. An announcer read a statement on the orders of the military that accused the government of eroding the democratic and secular rule of law. The country would be run by a "peace council" that would ensure the safety of the population, the statement said.
TRT later went off the air.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, speaking jointly after talks in Moscow, both said they hoped bloodshed would be avoided. The U.S. State Department said Americans in Turkey should shelter indoors. Other countries issued similar advice.
Turkey, a NATO member with the second biggest military in the Western alliance, is one of the most important allies of the United States in the fight against Islamic State, which seized swathes of neighbouring Syria and Iraq.
Turkey is one of the main backers of opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in that country's civil war, host to 2 million Syrian refugees and launchpad for the biggest influx of migrants to Europe since World War Two.
Celebratory gunfire erupted in Syria's capital Damascus as word got out that Erdogan had been toppled, and people took the streets to celebrate there and in the government-held section of the divided city of Aleppo.
Turkey has been at war with Kurdish separatists, and has suffered numerous bombing and shooting attacks this year, including an attack two weeks ago by Islamists at Istanbul's main airport that killed more than 40 people.
A senior EU source monitoring the situation said: "It looks like a relatively well orchestrated coup by a significant body of the military, not just a few colonels. They've got control of the airports and are expecting control over the TV station imminently. They control several strategic points in Istanbul.
"Given the scale of the operation, it is difficult to imagine they will stop short of prevailing. It's not just a few colonels," the source repeated.
One European diplomat was dining with the Turkish ambassador to a European capital when guests were interrupted by the pinging of urgent news on their mobile phones.
"This is clearly not some tinpot little coup. The Turkish ambassador was clearly shocked and is taking it very seriously," the diplomat told Reuters as the dinner party broke up. "However it looks in the morning, this will have massive implications for Turkey. This has not come out of nowhere."
In an statement sent by email and reported on TV channels, the military said it had taken power to protect the democratic order and to maintain human rights. All of Turkey's existing foreign relations would be maintained and the rule of law.
The state-run Anadolu news agency said the chief of Turkey's military staff was among people taken "hostage" in the capital Ankara. CNN Turk also reported that hostages were being held at the military headquarters.
After serving as prime minister from 2003, Erdogan was elected president in 2014 with plans to alter the constitution to give the previously ceremonial presidency far greater executive powers.
His AK Party, with roots in Islamism, has long had a strained relationship with the military and nationalists in a state that was founded on secularist principles after World War One. The military has a history of mounting coups to defend secular principles, but has not seized power directly since 1980.
Yildirim said a group within Turkey's military had attempted to overthrow the government and security forces have been called in to "do what is necessary".
"Some people illegally undertook an illegal action outside of the chain of command," Yildirim said in comments broadcast by private channel NTV.
"The government elected by the people remains in charge. This government will only go when the people say so."
Those behind the attempted coup would pay the highest price, he added.
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