ISTANBUL — Turkey's military attempted to overthrow the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday, the country's prime minister said on live television.
His surprise announcement comes as military tanks and personnel were deployed across the capital, Ankara, and the country's largest city, Istanbul. Helicopters and fighter jets were reported by residents to be flying low over both cities Friday night.
Soldiers blocked the two major bridges across the Bosphorus strait in Istanbul.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told local television station NTV that his government would "not allow" the military, which has staged coups in the past, to take over.
"We will not stray from democracy," he said.
VIDEO: Footage allegedly from Ankara shows jets flying incredibly low over residential buildings.
~~~ embed:754041460454981632?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw twitter metadata:Q29uZmxpY3RzfHxodHRwczovL3R3aXR0ZXIuY29tL0NvbmZsaWN0cy9zdGF0dXMvNzU0MDQxNDYwNDU0OTgxNjMyfA== ~~~
Let's hope all is settled without fatalities and too many injured people.
Live Updates
Several Social Media Sites Down
Brief internet outage
"Erdogan, was taken to an unknown destination with protection. Probably the naval forces command is being held at the naval base."
AKP Istanbul HQ is surrounded by military.
TRT Station taken over by military.
Explosion at Ankara Police HQ
Erdogan is live via phone on CNN Turkey.
I just hope they won't swerve aggressively towards radical Islamism...
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