Turkey captures fugitive commandos who tried to ‘seize or kill’ Erdogan on night of coup bid

Drones and helicopters pinpointed the location of the commandos in forested hills around the Mediterranean resort of Marmaris – where the president had been holidaying on the night of the coup – after a two-week manhunt.

Turkish gendarmeries escort one of the 11 fugitive commandos involved in a bid to seize or kill president Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the night of the failed coup as he arrives at the police headquarters Show more

ISTANBUL // Turkish special forces have captured a group of 11 fugitive commandos who tried to seize or kill president Recep Tayyip Erdogan during the failed coup, an official said on Monday.

Drones and helicopters pinpointed the location of the commandos in forested hills around the Mediterranean resort of Marmaris after a two-week manhunt. They were part of a group that attacked a hotel where Mr Erdogan was holidaying on the night of the July 15 coup bid.

The operation to capture them took place overnight from Sunday to Monday, after Mr Erdogan issued a decree to bring the armed forces under civilian control and dismissed nearly 1,400 more soldiers, continuing the post-coup purge of state institutions that have targeted tens of thousands of people.

Economy minister Nihat Zeybekci said coup plotters would bitterly regret trying to overthrow Turkey’s democracy, in words reflecting the depth of anger among the thousands of Turks who have attended rallies to condemn the coup night after night.

“We will make them beg. We will stuff them into holes, they will suffer such punishment in those holes that they will never see God’s sun as long as they breathe,” Mr Zeybekci was quoted by the Dogan news agency as telling an anti-coup protest in the western town of Usak.

“They will not hear a human voice again. ‘Kill us’ they will beg.”

More than 230 people were killed in the attempted coup, many of them civilians, and more than 2,000 injured. Mr Erdogan was almost killed or captured, officials close to him have said, an outcome that could have tipped Turkey into conflict.

Having been tipped off that he was in danger on the night of the coup bid, Mr Erdogan had fled the hotel in Marmaris by the time the rogue commandos arrived in an attempt to capture him.

After a manhunt involving around 1,000 members of the security forces, the 11 were captured – dressed in camouflage and trying to cross a stream – after a tip-off from a man who spotted them as he was hunting wild boar, Dogan said.

Video footage showed a dozen or so anti-coup demonstrators jeering the 11 detained soldiers, some of whom had swollen faces and bruises. The demonstrators waved Turkish flags and chanted “Traitors! We want the death penalty!”.

Since the coup bid, more than 60,000 people in the military, judiciary, civil service and education have been detained, suspended or placed under investigation, leading to concern among Nato allies about the scale of the purges. Around 40 per cent of Turkey’s generals and admirals have been dismissed.

The top military council was stacked with government ministers on Sunday as part of the moves by Mr Erdogan to tighten civilian control over the military.

“Our aim is that we set up such a system that nobody within the armed forces would ever consider a coup again,” deputy prime minister Numan Kurtulmus told a news conference in Ankara, explaining the latest reforms. He said a restructuring of Turkey’s intelligence structures may follow.

“Democracy demonstrations” called for by Mr Erdogan, like the one attended by Mr Zeybekci, have been held in squares night after night across the country since the coup.

The Turkish foreign ministry summoned the charge d’affaires at the German embassy on Monday after Berlin prevented Mr Erdogan from addressing such a rally by Turks in Cologne on Sunday by video link.

Germany’s highest court ruled against the live link amid concerns that political tensions in Turkey could spill over into Germany, home to Europe’s largest Turkish diaspora.

“It would be absolutely unacceptable for Germany to even mention democracy, the rule of law, human rights and freedoms to Turkey after this point,” tweeted Turkish justice minister Bekir Bozdag.

Turkey’s crackdown after the failed coup has made European leaders even more uneasy about their dependence on the country to help stem illegal migration, in return for which Turks have been promised visa-free travel to the European Union.

Turkey will have to back out of the agreement if the European Union does not deliver visa liberalisation as promised, Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was quoted as telling Germany's daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

* Reuters