Battle is raging in Ankara as the military attempts to wrestle control of Turkey from an unpopular government run by President Ergodan. The threat of civil war looms large, terrifying the people of Turkey.
In the last hour gunfire has been heard near the airport, while explosions have taken place at the state broadcaster’s building as the military and government fight for the ability to get their message out and people onside.
The military’s helicopters are firing on the Intelligence agency, while tanks have been literally parked on the lawns of the state parliament building.
A source in Ankara has told Breitbart London that a huge explosion engulfed the old Presidential Palace in smoke around 22:30 BST, which is only now beginning to clear.
“A jet just flew so close overhead that our windows rattled. Even the cat is shaking,” they said.
President Ergodan, unpopular with many for trying to turn Turkey away from secularism and towards Islam, has been phoning the TV channels in turn urging Turks to take to the streets and rise up against the military in a civil war.
But nearly half of the population is firmly behind the military, urging on the coup to rid them from a government which they see no other way of deposing. In particular, they rail against the rising influence of extremist Islam, complaining that mosques are now issuing the call to prayer five times a day — and preaching Islam inside the mosques.
“We are terrified of civil war,” a source in Izmir has told Breitbart London. “The Army on the one hand is telling us to stay indoors, government officials are telling us to go out.”
Claims by Turkey’s Justice Minister that the coup is led by followers of Erdogan’s nemesis, U.S.-based imam Fethullah Gulen, were dismissed as unlikely, as he is not perceived to have enough support. Likewise earlier reports that the coup was staged by as Islamist group was waved away as a ruse.
“Other political parties (even though they are against Erdogan) are saying go out and fight for democracy. The people of Turkey are now truly divided. In the past after all bombings, after elections, when basically things go wrong, they cut the internet or shut down social media. Facebook is down here to stop us from talking to each other and to the outside world,” the source said.
According to the source, the Turkish Armed Forces have released a statement, which is being broadcast on a loop by the Turkish broadcasting service, stating that they do “not want the destruction of democracy.”
They added that the military has pulled away from Ataturk airport in Istanbul, a sign that America has withdrawn its support from Erdogan and that the military are allowing him to escape the country.