Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s supporters rallied in public squares, at Istanbul airport and outside his palace overnight in a show of defiance after a failed coup attempt killed at least 265 people and raised expectations of a heavy crackdown on dissent.
Rebel soldiers used tanks, attack helicopters and fighter jets to try to topple Erdogan on Friday night, strafing parliament and the intelligence headquarters in Ankara while seizing a bridge and surrounding the airport in Istanbul.
The authorities rounded up nearly 3,000 suspected military plotters, including top commanders and foot soldiers, on Saturday and ordered thousands of judges detained after forces loyal to Erdogan crushed the attempted coup.
“Let’s hang them!” chanted crowds in Ankara’s central Kizilay square late on Saturday.
Erdogan supporters waving Turkish flags also thronged the central Taksim square in Istanbul – scene of mass anti-government protests three years ago – and a smaller crowd gathered outside the gates of the his vast presidential palace complex in the capital.
For at least eight hours overnight on Friday violence shook Turkey’s two main cities. But the coup attempt crumbled as Erdogan rushed back to Istanbul from a Mediterranean holiday and urged people to take to the streets in support of his government against plotters he accused of trying to kill him.
The violence shocked the nation of almost 80 million, once seen as a model Muslim democracy, where living standards have grown steadily for more than a decade and where the army last used force to stage a successful coup more than 30 years ago.
It also shattered fragile confidence among Turkey’s allies about security in the NATO member country, a leading member of the US-led coalition against Islamic State which aspires to membership of the European Union. Turkey had already been hit by repeated suicide bombings over the past year and is struggling to contain an insurgency by Kurdish separatists.
US President Barack Obama urged parties on all sides of the crisis to avoid destabilizing Turkey and follow the rule of law. US authorities banned all airlines from flying from Turkey to the United States, citing continued security concerns, and urged U.S. citizens to reconsider travel to Turkey.
French President Francois Hollande said on Saturday he expected there would be a period of repression in Turkey in the aftermath of the failed coup.
“They will pay a heavy price for this,” Erdogan said, launching a purge of the armed forces. “This uprising is a gift from God to us because this will be a reason to cleanse our army.”
