– ‘Turks are on fire’ –
Erdogan said he was still president and Turkey’s commander in chief, promising that plotters would pay a “very heavy price”.
Looking pale and drawn as he spoke from what a presidential source said was a secure location, he urged people to take to the streets to resist the coup.
He blamed the events on “the parallel state” and “Pennsylvania” – a reference to Pennsylvania-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, his arch-enemy who he has always accused of seeking to overthrow him.
He blamed the events on “the parallel state” and “Pennsylvania” – a reference to Pennsylvania-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, his arch-enemy who he has always accused of seeking to overthrow him.
“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.”
There was chaos in Istanbul as angry crowds took to the streets to boo the passing tanks, while others celebrated.
“We are angry at the military because they are killing us, they are killing civilians,” one protester told AFP, asking not to be named.
But other Turks were welcoming news of the coup.
“Turks are on fire,” Fethi Karabas, a 27-year-old tour guide in Taksim Square, told AFP.
“We have hope now,” he added. “Turkey has been in a very polarised state for almost 15 years now… This is the manifestation of all that anger.”
Rojhat Dogru, a Turkish Kurd on holiday in Istanbul, added: “I am very happy. Erdogan is a murderer but now he is dead.”
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