ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — European Council President Donald Tusk says the EU fully supports Turkey’s democratically elected government, in the wake of the attempted coup that left scores dead and wounded.
NTV television is quoting the prosecutor’s office in Ankara saying at least 42 people have been killed in “attacks” in the capital.
Speaking in Mongolia at the Asia-Europe summit meeting, Tusk says “Turkey is a key partner for the European Union. The EU fully supports the democratically elected government, the institutions of the country and the rule of law.”
He also called for a swift return to Turkey’s constitutional order.
Turkish broadcaster CNN-Turk is back on air after police apparently entered the building and arrested soldiers who had taken it over. CNN-Turk showed police taking away a soldier with his hands bound behind his back with wire.
The station also showed the moment five soldiers, who appeared to be conscripts, enter the building brandishing machine guns and telling employees to vacate the building.
State-run Anadolu Agency says Prime Minister Binali Yildirim has called all legislators for an emergency meeting on Saturday.
Parliament Speaker Ismail Kahraman earlier said that a bomb hit one corner of a public relations building inside the parliament complex, injuring some police officers.
He said there were no fatalities and that all legislators were safe at a parliamentary shelter.
Troops loyal to the government moved in to crush the coup attempt, arresting some 130 anti-government forces. A helicopter was flying over the area where the parliament is located and shots were being fired.
A source at the presidency told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity that 13 military officers who had earlier tried to forcibly enter the presidential palace were among those arrested.
According to Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, the number of soldiers who were arrested in the coup plot has increased to 130.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier said that the coup plot will fail.
Yildirim called on people to remain in the streets to support the government against coup plotters and appealed for patience.
He said a few air force planes flown by coup plotters still remain in the air. He has earlier ordered those aircraft shot down.
A lawyer for the Turkish government said “there are indications of direct involvement” in the coup attempt of a cleric who is living in exile in Pennsylvania.
Robert Amsterdam said in a statement Friday evening that he and his firm “have attempted repeatedly to warn the U.S. government of the threat posed” by Fethullah Gulen and his movement.
He said that according to Turkish intelligence sources, “there are signs that Gulen is working closely with certain members of military leadership against the elected civilian government.”
The president of a group that promotes Gulen’s ideas denied the charges.
Y. Alp Aslandogan of the New York-based Alliance for Shared Values tells The Associated Press “we categorically deny such accusations and find them to be highly irresponsible.”
Earlier in the evening, the alliance said, “we condemn any military intervention in (the) domestic politics of Turkey.”
