HH The Emir denounces Turkey coup attempt

HH The Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani held a phone call with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to congratulate him on the support of the brotherly Turkish people to their leadership to defeat the military coup attempt.

The Emir also expressed extreme condemnation and denouncement of the attempt and stressed the support of Qatar, its leadership and people and its solidarity with Turkey in all actions taken to protect the constitutional legitimacy, implement law, maintain security and stability and protect the Turkish people’s gains.

Foreign Minister HE Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani also held phone talks with Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu.

The Minister reiterated Qatar’s solidarity with Turkey in all legal measures the legitimate government takes to maintain the security and stability of Turkey and its people in the wake of the failed coup. Cavusoglu thanked Qatar for supportive stances towards Turkey.

In a statement, the Foreign Ministry stressed Qatar’s solidarity with Turkey in all legal measures the legitimate government takes to maintain the security and stability of Turkey and its fraternal people. He also called for the need to preserve the constitutional legitimacy, respect for the will of the Turkish people, reject violence, and not to take any step that would undermine the country’s security and stability.

Turkish authorities wrested back control of the country after crushing a coup bid by discontented soldiers seeking to seize power from Erdogan. The coup attempt claimed over 265 lives and injured over 1,440 people. The authorities blamed Fethullah Gulen, the US-based cleric who is Erdogan’s archenemy, for the plot and rounded up 2,839 soldiers over alleged involvement. Dozens of soldiers surrendered.

“The situation is completely under control,” Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said outside his Ankara offices, flanked by Turkey’s top general who had been taken hostage by the plotters.

He described the coup as a “black stain” on Turkey’s democracy.

General Umit Dundar, who stood in as Acting Chief of Staff while Hulusi Akar was being held by the rebels, said 104 coup plotters had been killed. Akar was rescued in an operation that marked the end of the plotters’ hopes.

During Friday night, crowds of flag-waving supporters of Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) defied the coup leaders’ orders of a curfew and flooded the streets to block the attempt to overthrow the regime.

“We should keep on owning the streets tonight no matter at what stage (the coup attempt is) because a new flare-up could take place at any moment,” Erdogan warned on Twitter yesterday.

As protesters poured onto the streets, troops opened fire on people near one of the bridges, leaving dozens wounded.

US President Barack Obama stressed the “vital need” for all parties to “act within the rule of law”.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the plotters had to be dealt with “under the rule of law”.

Turkey’s General Erdal Ozturk, Commander of the Third Army, was detained and Alparslan Altan, one of 17 judges on the constitutional court, taken into custody. Judicial authorities said 2,700 judges were ordered detained.

“Brothers, I must say that this is now being cleaned up,” Erdogan triumphantly told thousands of supporters in his home in the district of Kizikli on the Asian side of Istanbul.

Erdogan pinned the blame on “the parallel state” and “Pennsylvania” — a reference to Gulen, whom he has always accused of seeking to overthrow him. “The US — you must extradite that person,” he said to cheers from the supporters. But Erdogan’s former ally “categorically” denied any involvement in the plot, calling the accusation “insulting”.

Turkey also demanded extradition of eight people thought to have been involved in the putsch who landed in a Black Hawk military helicopter in Greece.

Bosphorus bridge reopened to traffic and Ataturk International Airport, shut down by the plotters, gradually reopened. But the US government said it had suspended all flights to Turkey and banned all airlines from flying to the US from Turkey.

Turkish authorities also imposed a security lockdown at the Incirlik air base in the southern province of Adana used by US and other coalition forces in the fight against jihadists in Syria, the US consulate said.

Egypt blocked a United Nations Security Council resolution backed by the US condemning the attempted coup, diplomats said.

Courtesy: thepeninsulaqatar.com