No fewer than 265 persons are reported to have died in the failed attempt by some soldiers to forcefully take over the reins of government in Turkey.
The attempt blew into the open on Friday night when some soldiers announced the taking over of government in the media and deployed armoured tanks around the country, especially in Istanbul and Ankara.
However, by the time the coup attempt crumbled, 2,839 soldiers, including high-ranking officers, have been arrested.
The Prime Minister of Turkey, Binali Yildirim, confirmed these figures.
In a night he called a “black stain on Turkish democracy”, Yildirim said 265 people had been killed and 1,440 wounded.
After explosions and gunfire were heard in Ankara, Istanbul and other parts of the country, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged Turks to rise up against the coup plotters.
That led to the failure of the coup with civilians blocking the passage of the coup plotters and attacking them in some instance.
President Erdogan blamed a “parallel structure” for the coup plot.
Some reports have it that this was in a clear reference to Fethullah Gulen, a powerful but reclusive US-based Muslim cleric, Erdogan accused of fomenting unrest.
However, in a statement, Gulen rejected any suggestion he had links to the events.
He said he condemned “in the strongest terms, the attempted military coup in Turkey”.
Yildirim said the situation was now “completely under control” and the government’s commanders were now back in charge.