Military coup in Turkey

[Anthea]

Turkey: Mass arrests after coup bid quashed, says PM

Some 2,839 soldiers, including high-ranking officers, have been arrested after an attempted coup that is now over, says Turkey's PM Binali Yildirim.

The attempted coup was a "black stain on Turkish democracy", he said, with 161 civilians killed and 1,440 wounded.

Explosions and gunfire were heard in Ankara, Istanbul and elsewhere overnight and thousands of Turks heeded President Erdogan's call to rise up against the coup-plotters.

It is unclear who was behind the coup.

The authorities also said 104 suspected coup-plotters had also been killed.

Some 2,745 Turkish judges have also been dismissed in the wake of the coup, state media say.

They are reported to include a member of the country's top court.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has blamed a "parallel structure" - a reference to Fethullah Gulen, a powerful but reclusive US-based Muslim cleric whom he accuses of fomenting unrest.

Mr Gulen has rejected any suggestion of links to what happened, saying he condemned "in the strongest terms, the attempted military coup in Turkey". The Turkish government wants his extradition.

Why did coup happen? - Jeremy Bowen, BBC News Middle East Editor

The attempted coup happened because Turkey is deeply divided over President Erdogan's project to transform the country and because of the contagion of violence from the war in Syria.

President Erdogan and his AK Party have become experts at winning elections, but there have always been doubts about his long-term commitment to democracy. He is a political Islamist who has rejected modern Turkey's secular heritage. Mr Erdogan has become increasingly authoritarian and is trying to turn himself into a strong executive president.

From the beginning Mr Erdogan's government has been deeply involved in the war in Syria, backing Islamist opposition to President Assad. But violence has spread across the border, helping to reignite the fight with the Kurdish PKK, and making Turkey a target for the jihadists who call themselves Islamic State.

That has caused a lot of disquiet. Turkey has faced increasing turmoil and the attempt to overthrow President Erdogan will not be the last of it.

The BBC's Katy Watson in Istanbul says people there are shocked - President Erdogan divides opinion, but a military takeover was not something they saw coming.

Events began on Friday evening as tanks took up positions on two of the bridges over the Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul, blocking traffic. Troops were seen on the streets and low-flying military jets were filmed over Ankara.

Shortly after, an army faction issued a statement that a "peace council" was running the country, and it had launched the coup "to ensure and restore constitutional order, democracy, human rights and freedoms".

President Erdogan, then in the south-west resort of Marmaris, made a televised address via his mobile phone, urging people to take to the streets to oppose the uprising.

After flying to Istanbul, Mr Erdogan said: "What is being perpetrated is a treason and a rebellion. They will pay a heavy price."

During the violence, the Turkish parliament and presidential buildings in Ankara were attacked. Gunfire was also heard outside Istanbul police headquarters and tanks were said to be stationed outside Istanbul airport.

Broadcaster CNN Turk was temporarily taken off air after soldiers entered the building and tried to take it over. CNN Turk later tweeted a photo of soldiers being arrested by police.

There were reports of fierce clashes in Taksim Square in central Istanbul, and gunfire and explosions were heard near the square. One of the helicopters being flown by rebels was reportedly shot down by government troops in Ankara.

What is happening now?

Prime Minister Yildirim said the situation was now "completely under control" and the government's commanders were now back in charge.

Earlier, acting military chief of staff Umit Dundar said officers from the air force, the military police and armoured units had mainly been involved in the coup attempt.

Although the chief of staff had been rescued, several military commanders were still being held hostage, he said.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Twitter that eight soldiers who flew to Greece in a helicopter to seek asylum will be extradited. Greece has not yet formally confirmed the move.

A US government spokesman said the Turkish government has closed its airspace to military aircraft, and as a result operations from Incirlik Air Base against the so-called Islamic State had been halted.

Earlier, some 200 unarmed soldiers left Turkey's military headquarters in Ankara and surrendered to police, according to the state-run Anadolu news agency.

Dramatic images showed dozens of soldiers walking away from their tanks with their hands up on one of Istanbul's Bosphorus bridges.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36813924

[Anthea]

Breaking:

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is demanding that the United States arrest or extradite Fethullah Gulen, a cleric and former ally he blames for the failed coup attempt the night before.

Gulen, who lives in exile in Pennsylvania, has denied any connection to the coup attempt and said he condemned it. "This country suffered a lot in the hands of the Gulen movement," Erdogan told supporters.

[Londoner]

Pro Erdogan Turks behead a soldier on ISIS style. The link is in Arabic.

http://almasalah.com/ar/NewsDetails.aspx?NewsID=79335

[Londoner]

What a humiliation??

Coup Turkish soldiers forced to undress and ley on the ground:

http://www.kurdistan24.net/so/news/fbc5 ... 6c9607975/وێنه‌ی-ڕووتی-كوده‌تاچییه‌كان-بڵاو-ده‌كرێته‌وه‌

[Piling]

That's karma.

[Anthea]

Now we see the so-called coup for what it actually was

100% guaranteed Erdogan was behind the entire coup - because he needed an excuse to rid Turkey of all those judges and military personnel who would prevented him from transferring full all-encompassing powers to himself as president

Erdogan himself confirmed this when he said that those behind the plot would pay a heavy price, calling the coup a "gift from God... because this will be a reason to cleanse our army".

So far, more than 3,000 soldiers have been detained and some 2,700 judges have been sacked.

Major General Ozhan Ozbakir, commander of the Denizli garrison and the 11th Commando Bridgade, was among the senior military figures arrested on Sunday, Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency reports.

Anthea: Are there any news agencies in Turkey that are not state run?

Other top-ranking arrests include Gen Erdal Ozturk, commander of the Third Army; Gen Adem Huduti, commander of the Second Army; and Akin Ozturk, the former Chief of Air Staff.

Anthea: If those mentioned above were actually involved in the organisation of this so-called coup - one would have expected it to succeed

[Anthea]

Let us not forget why so many Turks rushed out in support of Erdogan

The Imam's call to prayer is a powerful weapon - Muslims rushed from their homes to protect themselves and their country from?

I admit that I am not sure what went through the pea brains of all those Muslims - but I am convinced they were under the misapprehension that their religion was under attack

In a short time mass hysteria had broken out and the streets were full of frenzied screaming idiots who - like their friends in ISIS - gave no thought to their own safety as they attacked tanks bear-handed

Now there is nobody left in Turkey with the power to stand up against Hitler (Erdogan) - nor any media outlet to print the truth

The original Hitler tried to rid Germany of Jews by giving them an independent homeland in - cannot remember - was it Madagascar (people tend to forget that Hitler did not start by killing Jews)

The Turkish Hitler (Erdogan) will not give the Kurds an independent homeland - he just wants to destroy them - remember recently he has given the Turkish army immunity from prosecution in their fight against Kurds

Hitler (Erdogan) is actually MUCH WORSE than his German counterpart

[Londoner]

There were two main reasons for the failure of the coup:

1- Coup leaders were not able to cut all communications. This helped Turkish Hitler to bring his supporters to the street.
2- They failed to arrest the Hitler. He was in a hotel. They went there to get him. But he left before they arrived. He must have been informed by Americans in time. According to disclosed information, the moment he left the hotel he took to the sky in presidential plane, which guarded by American fighters. Apparently Israelis also involved to protect him.

[Anthea]

Turkey steps up purge with 6,000 detained after failed military coup

Following a failed coup against Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the government moved swiftly to shore up his power and remove those perceived as an enemy, saying on Sunday it has detained 6,000 people

The crackdown targeted not only generals and soldiers, but a wide swathe of the judiciary that has sometimes blocked Mr Erdogan, raising concerns that the effort to oust him will push Turkey even further into authoritarian rule.

Friday night's sudden uprising by a faction of the military appeared to take the government - and much of the world - by surprise.

The plotters sent warplanes firing on key government installations and tanks rolling into major cities, but it ended hours later when loyal government forces regained control of the military, and civilians took to the streets in support of Mr Erdogan. At least 294 people were killed and more than 1,400 wounded, the government said.

On Sunday, premier Binali Yildirim said the coup had failed and life has returned to normal.

"Another calamity has been thwarted," Mr Yildirim said in Ankara after visiting state TRT television, which had been seized by soldiers supporting the coup.

"However, our duty is not over. We shall rapidly conduct the cleansing operation so that they cannot again show the audacity of coming against the will of the people."

Mr Yildirim said those involved with the failed coup "will receive every punishment they deserve". Mr Erdogan suggested that Turkey might reinstate capital punishment, which was legally abolished in 2004 as part of the country's bid to join the European Union.

Speaking to a large crowd of his supporters in front of his Istanbul residence on Sunday evening, Mr Erdogan responded to frequent calls of "We want the death penalty!" by saying: "We hear your request. In a democracy, whatever the people want they will get."

Funerals were held for some of those who were killed in the coup attempt, including MR Erdogan's campaign manager Erol Olcak and his 16-year-old son, Abdullah Tayyip Olcak.

The president, who attended the service, wept and vowed to take the country forward in "unity and solidarity".

The government's announcement that 6,000 people had been detained - including three top generals and hundreds of soldiers - suggested a wide conspiracy.

Observers said the scale of the crackdown, especially against the judiciary, indicated the government was taking the opportunity to further consolidate Mr Erdogan's power.

"The factions within the military opposed to Erdogan who did this just gave him carte blanche to crack down not only on the military but on the judiciary," said Aykan Erdemir, a former politician from the main opposition party and now a senior fellow at the US-based Foundation for Defence of Democracies. "The coup plotters couldn't have helped Erdogan more."

Even before the chaos in Turkey, the Nato member and key Western ally in the fight against the Islamic State group had been wracked by political turmoil that critics blamed on Mr Erdogan's increasingly heavy-handed rule. He has shaken up the government, cracked down on dissent, restricted the media and renewed fighting with Kurdish rebels.

The rapid suppression of the putsch was greeted by Turks across the political spectrum with opposition parties joining quickly to condemn it. In a half-dozen cities, tens of thousands marched throughout the day after officials urged them to defend democracy and back Mr Erdogan, Turkey's top politician for 13 years.

At nightfall, flag-waving crowds rallied in Istanbul's Taksim Square, Ankara's Kizilay Square and elsewhere.

The Yeni Safak newspaper used the headline Traitors Of The Country, while the Hurriyet newspaper declared Democracy's Victory.

"Just a small group from Turkish armed forces stood up against our government ... but we, the Turkish nation, stand together and repulse it back," said Gozde Kurt, a 16-year-old student at a morning rally in Istanbul.

The failed coup and the subsequent crackdown followed moves by Mr Erdogan to reshape both the military and the judiciary. He had indicated a shake-up of the military was imminent and had also taken steps to increase his influence over the judiciary.

This month, parliament approved a controversial bill to reform two Turkish high courts, which allows the government to dismiss hundreds of administrative and high appeals court judges and allow Mr Erdogan to replace them with judges loyal to him. Parliament passed the bill even as authorities were grappling with a deadly triple suicide bomb attacks at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport.

The opposition had appealed against the legislation to the high court unsuccessfully, but Mr Erdogan has not yet signed it in to law. Two Constitutional Court justices were among the thousands of members of the judiciary it had detained on Saturday.

It is not clear what effect the post-coup purge will have on the judiciary, how the government will move to replace the dismissed judges and prosecutors, or where the trials for those detained would be held.

The government alleges that the coup conspirators were loyal to moderate US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Mr Erdogan has often accused of trying to overthrow the government.

Mr Gulen, who lives in Saylorsburgh, Pennsylvania, espouses a philosophy that blends a mystical form of Islam with democracy. He is a former Erdogan ally turned bitter foe who has been put on trial in absentia in Turkey, where the government has labelled his movement a terrorist organisation. He strongly denies the government's charges.

In recent years, the government had already moved to purge the police and judiciary of Gulen followers. The military, founded on secularist ideals, has been a staunch opponent of Mr Gulen, and so far officials have not offered evidence that he was involved in the coup attempt.

Speaking at a funeral in Istanbul, Mr Erdogan vowed to "clean all state institutions of the virus" of Mr Gulen's supporters. He also called on Washington to extradite Mr Gulen.

At two weekend news conferences, Mr Gulen strongly denied any role in or knowledge of the coup.

"As someone who suffered under multiple military coups during the past five decades, it is especially insulting to be accused of having any link to such an attempt," he said.

He said he did not fear extradition.

"This doesn't worry me at all. But I'm not going to do anything that will harm my dignity or that will go against my dignity," he said.

US secretary of state John Kerry said the United States would entertain an extradition request for Mr Gulen, but Turkey would have to present "legitimate evidence that withstands scrutiny".

Ziya Meral of the Centre for Historial Analysis and Conflict Research, a civilian think tank affiliated with the British Defence Ministry, said the motives of the plotters remain unclear, but the allegations against Mr Gulen were dubious.

"I am more inclined toward a network within the armed services who were disturbed about where Turkey is heading," she said.

The allegations will only add to the pressure on the US government and signal new uncertainty in US-Turkish relations.

The putsch attempt led to a temporary halt to air operations by the US-led coalition against the Islamic State group in neighbouring Syria and Iraq from Turkey's Incerlik air base, but the Pentagon said on Sunday that Turkey has reopened its airspace.

A Turkish government official said that the commander of the base, General Bekir Ercan Van, was among those detained.

The state-run Anadolu Agency also said authorities have issued a warrant for the arrest of Mr Erdogan's top military aide, Colonel Ali Yazici, although it was not clear what role he may have played in the attempted coup.

The agency said 70 generals and admirals, including former General Akin Ozturk, an air Force commander, were detained in the investigation. Of the generals and admirals brought before court, 11 were put under arrest as of Sunday night and the rest are awaiting processing.

Security forces arrested a group of coup plotters who had been holding out at one of Istanbul's airports on Sunday, a Turkish official said. In addition, Anadolu reported that seven people, including a colonel, were detained at an air base in the central Anatolian city of Konya.

General Umit Dunda said at least 104 conspirators were among those killed, describing them as mainly officers from the air force, the military police and armoured units.

Security forces rounded up 52 more military officers for alleged links to the coup. Anadolu said a detention order has been issued for 110 judges and prosecutors in Istanbul alone for alleged involvement with the group responsible for the coup.

The suspects are being charged with "membership in an armed terrorist organisation" and "attempting to overthrow the government of the Turkish Republic using force and violence or attempting to completely or partially hinder its function". The agency said 58 homes of prosecutors and judges have been searched.

Officials also said 2,745 judges and prosecutors have been dismissed.

Another 149 police were detained in Ankara, according to Anadolu, citing the office of the city's governor.

https://home.bt.com/news/world-news/fai ... 4074017012

[Anthea]

Istanbul police ordered to down helicopters without warning

Erdogan sends F-16s to patrol airspace

Turkish police have urgently ramped up presence in Istanbul, with special forces and military hardware deployed to the streets and orders to down aircraft without warning, media reports say. Meanwhile, F-16 fighter jets have been sent to patrol Turkish airspace.

Some 2,000 troops with armored vehicles have been deployed to key locations in Istanbul, Sputnik news agency reports.

Unconfirmed media reports claimed that unidentified helicopters have been spotted over the city, two days after rebel aircraft were used in a military coup attempt to attack police and government buildings in Ankara.

https://www.rt.com/news/351776-istanbul ... 6-erdogan/

[Anthea]

Turkish parliament evacuated after attack warning

https://www.rt.com/news/351849-turkey-p ... ed-attack/

By keeping the population frightened Erdogan can get away with almost anything

If Erdogan were to say that the threat to parliament comes from Kurds - he would be able to slaughter thousands and get away with it

[Anthea]

MUST WATCH VIDEO

Hitler comments on Turkish coup

https://t.co/ldqJRc0YVb

[Anthea]

Turkey's attempted military coup has brought its relationship with the US to a perilous crossroads

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's reaction to Friday's unsuccessful coup is raising alarm bells in Washington as he undertakes a sprawling crackdown, demands extradition of a Turkish cleric from the US and suggests American involvement in the plot despite repeated US denials.

Washington has spent years trying to cultivate the Muslim ally sitting at the crossroads of Europe and the Middle East -- a country crucial to the US fight against ISIS, stemming the tide of Syrian refugees and foreign fighters and tight military cooperation as a NATO member state. Now, there are fears that cooperation could slip and with it US interests.

The US, surprised by the coup and long concerned about Erdogan's increasingly authoritarian tendencies, is trying to strike a tricky balance between opposing an undemocratic attempt to topple the government and pushing the government to ease up on its counter response.

The White House has watched Erdogan crack down on the independent pillars of a democratic state -- including the judiciary, the media, political opponents and academics -- with increasing concern.

"None of us have been under any illusions for some time" about Turkey's increasingly undemocratic nature, said one senior State Department official, who described Erdogan as being "all about consolidating power."

Turkish criticism of US raises tensions

At the same time, Turkish criticism of the US could well increase to the detriment of the countries' ties.

"A radical expansion of power and authoritarian rule will come with the need to point to foreign and domestic enemies, and the US is foreign power par excellence in Turkey," said Ambassador Jim Jeffrey, a former US envoy to Turkey. "They use us to gin up support."
US and European officials are warning Erdogan not to go further down the road of authoritarianism or blame-shifting, issuing lightly veiled threats about the consequences, including potential disqualification from NATO.

Erdogan's response to the crisis -- either a tougher, broader crackdown or an attempt to reach out to Turkey's divided constituencies -- will redefine US-Turkey ties, analysts say, and could add yet another Mideast headache for the next US president to tackle in 2017.
"The relations with the US will be a subset of where Erdogan wants to take the country now," said Jeffrey. "The coup is history. The question is what he does with it." The path he chooses could have particularly dire consequences for military cooperation.

Two defense officials told CNN there is a growing sense that much of the US military relationship with the Turkish military may have to be rebuilt following the attempted coup.
Given the large number of senior Turkish military officers arrested, one defense official said the question has become, "Who do we even talk to?"

And US officials privately point to Erdogan's comments this weekend about cleansing the military to explain their concerns that he could use the attempted coup as an opportunity to consolidate power.

Already, there are worries that the Pentagon's relationship with the Turkish military could suffer in ways that could affect US national security interests, including arms sales and future military exercises, as well as the fight against ISIS in neighboring Syria.

If Erdogan works at improving relations with other elements of Turkey's political system, and doesn't do permanent institutional damage, that will open the door to improving relations with the US and with the new White House occupant in 2017, Jeffrey said.

"If he continues his quasi-authoritarian government and Turkey becomes an institutionally limited democracy, that will mean a divided, weakened, dysfunctional Turkey, which we don't need and will violate our values," Jeffrey said. "We will have to react to that. It would be a recipe for worse relations."

Kerry delivers warning to Erdogan

Secretary of State John Kerry issued a veiled warning to that effect at a Brussels press conference Monday, where his European Union counterpart Federica Mogherini warned that Turkish attempts to reinstate the death penalty in order to punish those accused of involvement with the coup could disqualify it from becoming an EU member.

Kerry delivered a reminder that NATO had standards for its members

"NATO has a requirement with respect to democracy," Kerry said. "NATO will measure very carefully what is happening and my hope is that Turkey is going to move in ways that do respect what they have said to me many times is the bedrock of their country."

Kerry said that in three conversations with Turkey's foreign minister in the last few days, "he assured me they fully intend to respect the democratic process and the law."

But he warned that "the level of vigilance and scrutiny is obviously going to be significant in the days ahead" and cautioned against "a backsliding."

A senior US administration official said Kerry was simply reiterating a long-standing message to ensure the Turkish government is aware of the need to preserve civil society and stand by the values in the NATO charter. At a time of fear, emotion and tension, it was important for Kerry to reiterate to Erdogan to "be careful not to overreach, which has been the basic thrust of our message all along," the official said.

That official downplayed tensions between the US and Turkey, which have simmered over the past few years over differences on how to approach the fight against the Syrian regime and against ISIS, as well as Erdogan's rule.

"It would not be fair for differences over domestic policies to cloud the fact that the strategic relationship has grown much closer over time," said the official, who stressed "common interest and common effort" in the fight against ISIS, also know as Daesh.
Officials at the State Department were less circumspect.

"There is a worrying trend in Turkey about lack of freedoms," this official said. "We have been expressing our concerns as much as we can, and with a NATO ally and a key partner in the anti-Daesh coalition, that gets dicey and uncomfortable."

So Kerry is delivering the message that "you can't use this coup attempt to further crack down on freedom of speech, press and academic freedoms and civil society," this official said.

If Erdogan ignores that warning at takes a more deeply authoritarian turn, relations with the US will get worse, Jeffries warned. In turn, Turkey will likely produce more open displays of direct hostility to the US.

US Ambassador to Turkey John Bass has already had to publicly rebut allegations from senior Erdogan government figures that the US was behind the coup or supported it.
"This is categorically untrue," Bass said in a statement issued Monday. "Such speculation is harmful to the decades-long friendship between the two great nations."

Turks have accused a Turkish cleric and Erdogan rival living in exile in Pennsylvania of being a key coup plotter. In a televised speech on July 16, Erdogan said that "if we are strategic partners," the US would grant a Turkish extradition request for the cleric.

US wants evidence of cleric's involvement

Both Bass and Kerry responded by making clear that the US has clear legal standards for such request that so far haven't been met.

"We need to see genuine evidence that withstands the standard of scrutiny," Kerry said. "Let me emphasize that we've never had such a request, we've never had such evidence."
Jeffrey noted that the Turkish narrative about about Gulen "is the kind of thing that is done deliberately to gin up support." And if Erdogan makes the argument that he is the only person to keep Turkey safe and on track, it would "exacerbate relations with the US. It will be difficult for us to put up with it and they will actively pick on the US as a reason for the crackdown," Jeffrey said.

The most concrete impact may be on the military. The Pentagon will watch to see what officers are appointed to fill senior commander jobs in the Turkish military and determine how to interact with them.

An immediate test will come later this week when a Turkish military delegation is expected to show up in Washington for a counter-ISIS meeting with other nations in the coalition. Sensitivities are so high right now that the Pentagon will neither say who was scheduled to come or who might still be coming.

Jeffrey noted that the military is one of very few commonalities left in the US-Turkey relationship. "Our relationship with Turkey is almost entirely transactional with the military," Jeffrey said.

There's a little energy cooperation, very little trade and "there isn't much left on values -- the whole idea of a liberal democracy in the Middle East is gone."

If political ties do get worse over the coming months, the next president will find it hard to continue good military relations, Jeffrey said, "because all decisions involving the US military realm are taken at the political level."

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/07/18/polit ... ationship/

[Londoner]

MUST WATCH VIDEO

Hitler comments on Turkish coup

https://t.co/ldqJRc0YVb

Well-done for this good act so quickly. Hitler wants to disguise himself as muslim woman.

[Anthea]

Turkey coup: Purge widens to education sector

More than 15,000 education staff in Turkey have been suspended after last week's failed coup, as a purge of state officials widens still further.

The ministry of education accused them of links to Fethullah Gulen, a US-based cleric the Turkish government says was behind Friday's uprising.

Mr Gulen denies any involvement.

More than 1,500 university deans have also been ordered to resign and the licences of 21,000 teachers working at private institutions revoked.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim vowed to take action against Mr Gulen's supporters.

"I'm sorry but this parallel terrorist organisation will no longer be an effective pawn for any country," Mr Yildirim said, according to Reuters news agency.

"We will dig them up by their roots so that no clandestine terrorist organisation will have the nerve to betray our blessed people again."

The army, judiciary, security and civil service have all been targeted following Friday's coup attempt:

6,000 military personnel have been arrested, with more than two dozen generals awaiting trial
9,000 police officers have been sacked
Almost 3,000 judges have been suspended
More than 250 staff in Mr Yildirim's office have been removed

Turkey's media regulation body on Tuesday also revoked the licenses of 24 radio and TV channels accused of links to Mr Gulen.

The country's Religious Affairs Directorate has banned religious funerals for supporters of the attempted coup, the Anadolu news agency reported.

Meanwhile it has emerged that the army first received intelligence a coup was under way at 16:00 local time (13:00 GMT) on Friday, hours before a rogue faction deployed tanks and targeted key infrastructure.

The General Staff said in a statement it alerted the relevant authorities, adding that the majority of members had nothing to do with the coup.

"A successful coup attempt would have been a tragedy for the country and the region. The lesson is that Turkish democracy is strong. People don't just blindly follow the government" - Yildiz, Istanbul.

"I know coups don't bring good things to Turkey, but we are desperate. I feel alienated from the people in the days after the coup. I don't like some of the people we see in streets. I guess you saw some of them - the Islamists. They will be stronger after this" - Joy, Istanbul.

The removal of thousands of officials has alarmed international observers, with the UN urging Turkey to uphold the rule of law and defend human rights.

The President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, has accused Turkey of carrying out "revenge" against its opponents and critics.

He also said a debate around restoring the death penalty was "deeply worrying". The EU has warned such a move would end talks over Turkey joining the bloc.

According to official figures from the prime minister's office, Friday night's coup attempt left 232 people dead and 1,541 wounded.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36838347