ISTANBUL: Turkish authorities said they had regained control of the country on Saturday after thwarting a coup attempt by discontented soldiers to seize power from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Authorities said 265 people, including about 50 civilians, had been killed in the bloodiest challenge to Erdogan's 13 years of autocratic rule.
The president urged his supporters to stay on the streets to prevent a possible "flare-up" of Friday's chaos in the country of 80 million people.
With at least 2,839 soldiers already detained in a relentless roundup of suspected plotters, authorities blamed the conspiracy on Erdogan's arch-enemy, the US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen. Gulen's supporters denied the charges.
Turks woke up early Saturday to television pictures showing dozens of soldiers surrendering after the apparent failure of the coup, some with their hands above their head, others forced to the ground in the streets.
The newspaper Hurriyet said some of the privates who were detained told interrogators they were not even aware that they were part of a coup attempt. They reportedly had been told by their commanders they were taking part in military manoeuvres.
"The situation is completely under control," Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said outside his Ankara offices, flanked by Turkey's top general who had himself been taken hostage by the plotters.
Describing the attempted coup as a "black stain" on Turkey's democracy, Yildirim said 161 people had been killed in the night of violence and 1,440 wounded.
This toll did not appear to include 104 rebel soldiers killed overnight, bringing the overall death toll to 265.
During a night where power was in the balance, large crowds of flag-waving supporters of Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) defied a curfew and marched out onto the streets to block the attempt to overthrow the regime.
Erdogan used his Twitter feed to urge people onto the streets to ensure no further challenges to his power.
Supporters surround President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as he arrives at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul on Saturday morning to reassert control after the attempted coup. (Reuters Photo)
"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," he said.
As the dust settled on a dramatic and chaotic night, TV pictures on Saturday showed extensive damage to the parliament building in Ankara that was bombed by rebel jets.
Friday's putsch bid began with rebel F-16 jets screaming low over rooftops in Ankara, soldiers and tanks taking to the streets and multiple explosions throughout the night in the capital as well as the biggest city Istanbul.
Rebel troops also moved to block the two bridges across the Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul, culminating in a standoff with an angry crowd.
As protesters poured onto the streets, an AFP photographer saw troops open fire on people gathered near one of the bridges, leaving dozens wounded.
Soldiers also shot at protesters angrily denouncing the coup bid at Istanbul's Taksim Square, injuring several.
There was chaos in Istanbul as angry crowds jeered the passing tanks, with smaller numbers welcoming the troops.
"The people are afraid of a military government," a 38-year-old man who gave his name as Dogan told AFP. "Most of them have been in military service, they know what a military government would mean."
Turkish army F-16s launched air strikes against tanks stationed by coup backers outside the presidential palace in Ankara. Regular explosions could be heard from the AFP office situated near the complex.
Erdogan, who flew back from the holiday resort of Marmaris to a triumphant welcome from supporters at Ataturk Airport, denounced the coup attempt as "treachery".
"They will pay a heavy price for this act of treason," he said. "We will not leave our country to occupiers."
Parliamentarians on Saturday held an emergency session, broadcast live on national TV, to discuss the response to the situation.
Retribution has been swift. In addition to the thousands of detentions, the Interior Ministry has sacked 29 colonels and five generals.
No named military officer claimed responsibility for the actions although Prime Minister Yildirim claimed a key pro-coup general had been killed.
Turkey's once-powerful military has long considered itself the guardian of the secular state founded by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1923. It has staged three coups since 1960 and forced out an Islamic government in 1997.
Erdogan's critics have long accused him of undermining modern Turkey's secular roots and of sliding into authoritarianism -- but the president was believed to have won control of the military after purging elements who opposed him.
The Islamist-rooted Ak Party government, which came to power in 2002 with Erdogan as prime minister at the time, has made it a priority to curb the political influence of the military.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said he had spoken with his Turkish counterpart to pledge his backing. President Barack Obama told Kerry that “all parties” in Turkey should support the government, the White House said.
Turkey’s lira plunged as much as 6% against the dollar, the most since 2010, as news of the coup broke.
Turkey’s main opposition parties condemned the coup attempt. Kemal Kilicdaroglu, head of the secular Republican People’s Party, said his group was “bound to the free will of our citizens, the cornerstone of parliamentary democracy".
Erdogan has been accused by domestic opponents and human rights groups of becoming increasingly authoritarian and attempting to silence critics. He’s fought to transform the once largely ceremonial post of president and make it the main seat of power.
Under Erdogan, Turkey has also been drawn deeper into some of the region’s most intractable conflicts, especially in neighbouring Syria. Islamic State militants based there have attacked Turkish cities and border posts, killing scores of people.
A decades-old conflict with separatist Kurdish rebels in the southeast of the country has also been reignited after a three-year lull.
“The coup attempt is driven by multiple factors but mainly discontent with Erdogan himself, including his failure to protect the Turkish state from ISIS and failed Syrian policy,” said Theodore Karasik, a Middle East analyst at Gulf State Analytics in Washington. “Leading figures felt that their own positions in the military were in jeopardy.”
The attempted coup follows a series of bombings that hit Turkey this year, including a suicide attack in June that killed 45 people at Istanbul's main airport. They have weighed on international travel to the country.
The number of foreign visitors to Turkey fell by 28% in April, data showed on Friday, the biggest drop in 17 years.
Supporters of President Erdogan hold his portrait aloft as they celebrate the quashing of a coup attempt in Ankara. (Reuters Photo)