Turkish government, military issue conflicting coup reports

UPDATE (7/18, 9:01 a.m.): F-16 fighter jets patrolled the skies overnight while government security forces continue to raid military facilities in search of suspected plotters in an attempt to overthrow the government in Turkey Friday night.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ordered the Sunday night air patrol “for the control of the airspace and security,” according to the state-run Anadolu news agency.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Monday that 232 people—208 government supporters he called “martyrs” and 24 coup participants—died during the uprising. Earlier figures released by the government and military listed 294 dead, including 104 involved in the coup. The reason for the discrepancy wasn’t clear. More than 1,500 were wounded during the conflict.

Yildirim said 7,543 people had been arrested since Friday, including 6,030 military personnel.

Anadolu reports that Turkish prosecutors began questioning 27 generals and admirals on Monday, including Air Force commander Gen. Akin Ozturk, who has been described as the coup’s ringleader. Ozturk, who remained on active duty, denies his involvement and has told Turkish media that he worked to stop the uprising.

Erdogan and his government continue to blame U.S.-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen for coup attempt. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the United States would entertain an extradition request for Gulen, who lives in Pennsylvania, but Turkey would have to present “legitimate evidence that withstands scrutiny.”

UPDATE (7/16 9:01 a.m.): An attempted military coup in Turkey appears to be over, with police, soldiers, and civilians loyal to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government rising up to quash the rebellion in a deadly night of explosions, air battles, and gunfire.

Turkish Prime Minister Benali Yildirim said 161 people were killed and 1,440 wounded in the overnight violence. He added that 2,839 people who plotted the uprising have been detained. A source at the office of the presidency, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with government rules, said the 161 dead “excludes assailants.”

Yildirim said the coup was as “a black mark on Turkish democracy” and that the perpetrators “will receive every punishment they deserve.”

As the evening unfolded, the Turkish military did not appear unified in the coup attempt. Top commanders appeared on television to condemn the uprising and order troops back to their barracks. Gen. Umit Dundar, the newly appointed acting chief of the general staff, said the coup plotters were mainly officers from the Air Force, the military police, and armored units.

Images broadcast on CNN-Turk showed dozens of soldiers walking among tanks with their hands up, surrendering to government forces. Colonels and generals implicated in the uprising were fired and troops loyal to the government rescued the military chief who had been taken hostage at an air base on the outskirts of Ankara.

UPDATE (10:40 p.m.): Speaking on national television from Istanbul Saturday morning, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the government was arresting coup supporters in the military and “they will pay a heavy price for their treason to Turkey,” according to a transcript of his remarks provided by his office. “Those who stain the military’s reputation must leave. The process has started today and it will continue just as we fight other terrorist groups.”

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, speaking to state-run Anadolu Agency, said more than 120 arrests were made.

Erdogan, who said coup leaders had abducted his general secretary, flew into Istanbul’s Ataturk airport early Saturday and was greeted by a large crowd. When the coup attempt began hours earlier, his office had declined to say where he was, but he gave an interview over FaceTime to a television station, where he called for his supporters to take to the streets, and many did.

In his TV address, Erdogan blamed the coup attempt on supporters of Fethullah Gulen, a Islamic cleric who lives in exile in Pennsylvania. Erdogan has long accused Gulen and his supporters of attempting to overthrow the Turkish government. (See Jill Nelson’s WORLD Magazine profile of Gulen, “Turkey’s inside man,” from 2013.)

While government officials said the coup appears to have failed, blasts continued to be heard in the capital, Ankara, and in Istanbul, including a bomb that hit a corner of a public relations building at the parliament complex, according to Parliament Speaker Ismail Kahraman.

U.S. President Barack Obama urged all sides in Turkey, a member of NATO that has worked with the United States in its efforts to defeat Islamic State, to support Erdogan’s democratically elected government. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said he spoke to Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and called for respect for democracy.

Various media outlets and hospitals are reporting multiple injuries and deaths due to the uprising, including 17 police officers who were killed in a helicopter attack on police special forces headquarters on the outskirts of Ankara.

OUR EARLIER REPORT: Turkey is in the throes of a coup, with government and military officials issuing conflicting reports about who’s in charge.

The prime minister first issued a statement saying the attempt to overthrow the government had failed. His comments came after Ankara residents reported seeing military jets flying overhead and military vehicles blocking traffic on two major bridges.

“There are certain groups who took the arms trusted to them by the state and pointed them toward state employees,” Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said. “We shall determine soon who they are. Our security forces have acted against these groups.”

Less than an hour after Yildirim issued his statement, the military issued one of its own, claiming it had seized full control of the country. The statement, carried by the Dogan news agency said the military took control “to reinstall the constitutional order, democracy, human rights and freedoms, to ensure that the rule of law once again reigns in the country, for the law and order to be reinstated.”