Turkey's failed coup: what we know
AFP on July 21, 2016, 4:53 am
Ankara (AFP) - Some 50,000 people in Turkey have been either detained or sacked in the wake of last weekend's failed bid to topple President Recep Erdogan.
Here is what we know about the widening purge and the violent events that prompted it.
- Who's targeted in wake of coup? -
About 9,300 people have been detained, including 118 generals and admirals accused of treason for allegedly masterminding the plot as well as soldiers, police and judges.
The number of state education ministry personnel suspended has risen to nearly 22,000, according to reports Wednesday.
Also, 21,000 people working in private education will have their licences removed and banned from teaching in the future. Even the sports ministry has dismissed 245 personnel.
Turkey's higher education council also banned academics from work trips abroad and urged those overseas to return home quickly.
Licences for several radio and television stations were cancelled because the broadcasters are suspected of having links to an exiled Islamic cleric, Fethullah Gulen, who stands accused of orchestrating the coup.
Turkey's education board also demanded the resignation of almost 1,600 deans from private and state universities.
- Will plotters be executed? -
Turkey fully abolished the death penalty in 2004 and no executions have taken place in the country since 1984.
This week Erdogan suggested capital punishment could be reinstated if parliament approved such a move.
But this would rule out any chance Turkey has of joining the EU and could see it thrown out of the Council of Europe.
- How did the coup attempt unfold? -
Soldiers shut down two of the bridges spanning the Bosphorus in Istanbul at around 7:30 pm (1630 GMT) on Friday and shortly after, military jets were heard flying low in the capital Ankara.
Some four hours later, a group within the military announced it had seized control of Turkey and that the country was now under martial law. Troops appeared on the streets of Istanbul and Ankara.
Erdogan, addressing the nation via a FaceTime call to the CNN Turk television channel, urged people to take to the streets and resist the coup, which they did in their thousands.
Soldiers in Istanbul opened fire on protesters and fighting erupted in Ankara, with planes bombing the parliament building.
Erdogan flew into Istanbul early Saturday where he was greeted by a sea of supporters, and shortly after the government announced it had regained control and that the coup had failed.
More than 300 people were killed, according to official figures, including over 100 putschists.
The president, who chaired a security council meeting in Ankara on Wednesday, said he had come within 15 minutes of being killed or captured by the putschists.
In an indication that the armed forces were back under the president's full control, Turkey launched military strikes against Kurdish militants in northern Iraq late Tuesday.
- Who was behind the coup bid? -
It remains unclear who exactly was behind the attempted power grab. The coup was declared by a group within the army calling itself the Council for Peace in the Homeland, saying it was intervening "to ensure and restore constitutional order, democracy, human rights and freedoms".
Erdogan has furiously pointed blame at his arch-foe Gulen, the US-based Islamic preacher whose Hizmet movement has a powerful presence in Turkish society, including the media, police and judiciary.
Gulen has categorically denied any involvement in the plot and has suggested it could have been staged by Erdogan himself to cement his grip on power, a theory that has been raised by other critics and some analysts, but dismissed as "nonsensical" by the president's spokesman.
- How has the world reacted? -
World powers rallied behind Erdogan on the night of the coup attempt, with key strategic partners including the United States and European Union offering support for Turkey's elected authorities.
On Tuesday, US President Barack Obama said he was "willing to provide appropriate assistance to Turkish authorities investigating the attempted coup," according to his spokesman, Josh Earnest.
Turkey has asked the US to extradite Gulen. Earnest said whether this happened depended on "a legal process," and not on Obama himself.
But there has been international concern over the mass arrests with with Germany on Wednesday saying, "every day we are seeing new measures that flout the rule of law and that disregard the principle of proportionality."
On Wednesday, ratings agency S&P indicated Turkey was now a slightly riskier place to invest.
"Polarisation of Turkey's political landscape" and "heightened unpredictability" led the agency to downgrade the country's sovereign credit rating by a notch.
The purges have also prompted anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks to bring forward the release some 300,000 emails related to Erdogan's AKP party.
Turkey immediately blocked access to the site.
