Turkey army in coup attempt

ANKARA

Turkish troops launched a coup Friday, with soldiers taking to the streets of Ankara and Istanbul as the prime minister vowed the putschists would "pay the highest price".

Jets screeched low overhead in the capital, while citizens rushed for the safety of their homes.

State broadcaster TRT said the military had declared martial law and a curfew, in a statement signed by a group calling itself the "Council for Peace in the Homeland".

"The power in the country has been seized in its entirety," said a military statement quoted by Turkish media.

It said the coup had been launched "to ensure and restore constitutional order, democracy, human rights and freedoms and let the supremacy law in the country prevail, to restore order which was disrupted".

"All our international agreements and commitments retain their validity," the statement added.

"We hope our good relations will continue with all countries in the world."

Television pictures showed tanks deployed outside Ataturk airport in Istanbul. Reports said that flights into the airport had been halted.

AFP correspondents said that Istanbul had been turned into a ghost town after the events, with people who had been outside for a Friday night rushing home for safety.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on Friday denounced what he said was an "illegal attempt" by elements of the military.

"We are working on the possibility of an attempt. We will not allow this attempt," he told NTV television by telephone, without expanding on the nature of the move but saying it was by a group in the Turkish military.

"Those who are in this illegal act will pay the highest price," he added, insisting it would not be correct to describe the move as a "coup".

Neighbouring Greece said it was following the situation closely, while US President Barack Obama has been briefed.

"The president's national security team has apprised him of the unfolding situation in Turkey," said US National Security Council spokesman Ned Price.

MILITARY RELATIONS

Turkey has a history of coups, with governments ousted on three occasions in the last decades by full military coups.

However analysts had usually assumed that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had good relations with the military.

There has been no comment so far from Erdogan. It was earlier reported that the president was on vacation in the Mediterranean.

But presidential sources said: "This is an attack against Turkish democracy. A group within the Armed Forces has made an attempt to overthrow the democratically elected government outside the chain of command.

"The statement made on behalf of the Armed Forces wasn't authorised by the military command. We urge the world to stand in solidarity with the Turkish people," the sources added.

Turkey's top general was taken hostage at the military headquarters in the capital Ankara after the attempt to bring down the government, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.

"General Hulusi Akar has been taken hostage by a group in the military who attempted an uprising," the agency said citing "credible sources".

"Problems in Turkey need to be resolved in accordance with the constitution," Lavrov said.

Turkish security forces on Friday partially shut down the two bridges across the Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul as military jets were heard flying low over Ankara, reports and AFP correspondents said.

The Bosphorus and Fatih bridges were closed by the gendarmerie — a branch of the Turkish military dedicated to internal security — for traffic travelling from Asia to Europe, NTV television said.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said he hoped for "peace and continuity" in Turkey while Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, speaking at a joint press conference in Moscow, called on Turkey to avoid all "bloodshed".

The prime minister of neighbouring Greece "has been briefed by the head of secret services" about the developments, a government source said.