Under Erdogan, Turkey has also been drawn deeper into some of the region’s most intractable conflicts, especially in neighbouring Syria. (Reuters Photo)ISTANBUL: Turkey’s leaders say they have largely quelled an attempted military coup, hours after army officers claimed to have seized power in the country. “The coup attempt in Turkey seems backed by only a faction in the Turkish military and is unlikely to succeed,” said Jorge Benitez, a senior fellow at the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security in Washington. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in a speech from Istanbul’s international airport, blamed the coup attempt on a group of followers of the US-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen. Dozens of soldiers backing the coup surrendered in Istanbul on the Bosphorus bridge that they had held throughout the night, television pictures showed.

Source: Bangkok Post July 16, 2016 04:18 UTC