By Brandon Turbeville - mintpressnews.com - Protesters hold a giant Turkish flag as they gather in Taksim Square in Istanbul, Monday, July 18, 2016. Turkey's Interior Ministry has fired nearly 9,000 police officers, bureaucrats and others and detained thousands of suspected plotters following a foiled coup against the government, Turkey's state-run news agency reported Monday. Protesters hold a giant Turkish flag as they gather in Taksim Square in Istanbul, Monday, July 18, 2016. Turkey’s Interior Ministry has fired nearly 9,000 police officers, bureaucrats and others and detained thousands of suspected plotters following a foiled coup against the government, Turkey’s state-run news agency reported Monday.
Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım, after the coup attempt of the separatist terrorist organization of Fetullah Gülen (FETÖ) held a press conference with Chief of General Staff General Hulusi Akar, Interior Minister Efkan Ala, Minister of Defence Fikri Işık and Minister of Justice Bekir Bozdağ and answered the questions of the press. Yıldırım stated that the 15th of July is a “Black spot in Turkish democracy”, "The name of the noble nation, who was on democracy guard last night during the coup attempt against parallel terrorist gang but returned to normal life in the morning, is the Turkish nation. I applaud all the members of my nation, all my citizens who stood against this parallel terrorist gang and took to the squares with their flags." he continued. 
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KCRA) —As an attempted military coup played out Friday a world away in Turkey, Turkish-Americans in the Sacramento area worried about their loved ones in the volatile country. During the violent and chaotic night, at least 60 people were killed and 1,000 people were wounded. A total of 1,563 military officers were detained across Turkey after some military units failed to take over the government, a source with President Recep Erdogan’s office told CNN. Several families in Northern California were split up during the unrest because family members traveled to Turkey on vacation. 
NPR's Ari Shapiro talks to Reuters reporter Ayla Jean Yackley about the attempted coup in Turkey. The Turkish prime minister said there has been "an attempted uprising from within the military." It is unclear who is in control of Turkey at this moment. The prime minister has told a television network that there is an uprising within the military, this in a country that has a history of military takeovers. There are reports of tanks and soldiers in the streets of the capital Ankara, as well as major roads closed in Istanbul. We're joined now by Reuters reporter Ayla Jean Yackley, who is in Istanbul. Welcome to the program.
US-Turkish tensions have grown after government forces put down an attempted coup on Friday night. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused exiled Turkish businessman and cleric Fethullah Gulen of orchestrating the violence and is demanding that the US extradite him. Gulen, who lives in Pennsylvania, denied any involvement and condemned the coup attempt. 
Turkey's bloody coup attempt plotted by the Fetullah Terrorist Organization is not seen as a threat to democracy, according to an article written by American writer Steven Cook. The article published on Thursday in U.S.-based magazine The Atlantic, which is headlined "How Erdogan Made Turkey Authoritarian Again", overlooks the people's struggle to protect the country's democracy, rushing to the streets to stop the illegal coup attempt, but rather says it "would not have brought an end to Turkey’s democracy". The article claimed that only Turkey's ruling party's progress would have been lost, ignoring the fact that coup plotters bombed the Turkish parliament, a clear intention to harm the democratic functioning of the country. 
