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15th Jul 2016

Turkish President forced to make statement via Facetime as military seize media control

Facetiming the nation.

Nooruddean Choudry

This is truly bizarre.

The Turkish military claim that they have taken control of the country after a swift but effective military coup; Prime Minister Binali Yildirim says security forces are tackling the situation and that the government are still in power.

Whatever the truth, the military do have control over the state broadcaster, TRT, having occupied their headquarters in Ankara. They are now off-air but previous announced that the country was under curfew and in a state of martial law.

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the country’s current President and former Prime Minister, has been addressing the Turkish public.

As he was unable to appear on state television, Erdogan was forced to communicate with CNN Turk via mobile video linkup using FaceTime. The CNN news presenter held her phone up to the camera whilst speaking to the President.

He claims that he is on his way to the capital and asked calls on the public to go to public squares and airports – in direction contradiction to the military’s orders.

The situation remains uncertain.

Topics:

Facetime,Turkey