Canada urges calm in Turkey, advises Canadians to stay indoors

The White House says President Obama has been briefed on developments in key North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally Turkey where the military claims to have seized power in a coup. It declared that martial law and a nationwide curfew are in place.

Access was restricted in Turkey on Friday to Facebook Inc FB.O , Twitter Inc TWTR.N and Alphabet Inc’s GOOGL.O YouTube shortly after news that a military coup was under way, according to two internet monitoring groups.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was long hailed as the politician who finally tamed his country’s powerful military.

Turks appeared to heed that call early Saturday taking to the streets of Izmir and Istanbul waving Turkish flags, according to television footage. This was a SERIOUS indication the coup was, in fact, failing.

The witness, who was close to Taksim Square and the CNN Turk studios, said the sound of helicopters and jet aircraft flying overhead preceded the explosions.

The president used FaceTime from an undisclosed location to broadcast messages asking the public to resist the attempted coup.

“What is being perpetrated is a rebellion and a treason”, Erdogan said, adding “They will pay a heavy price for their treason to Turkey”.

As many as sixty people have been killed, majority civilians, and scores injured during overnight clashes in the capital on Friday night, Turkish media and the prosecutor’s office said. “There was an illegal act by a group within the military that was acting out of the chain of military command”.

By the early hours of Saturday morning, lawmakers were still hiding in shelters inside the parliament building in Ankara, which had been fired on by tanks.

“Fighter jets have left the air base in Eskisehir” in western Turkey with the aim of hunting down the rogue craft, the official said.

The nation’s state-run news agency claimed the helicopter attacked the police special forces headquarters in the outskirts of the turkish capital.

In a separate statement, Kerry said the USA viewed the “very fluid situation” in Turkey with the “gravest concern”.

Erdogen said the coup is now over and the government is now in control.

He had called on Turks to take to the streets to defend his government.

Turkish police have arrested hundreds of people after a failed coup against the Turkish government, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim says. “This government will only go when the people say so”.

United States president Barack Obama urged all sides in Turkey to support the democratically-elected government and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said he spoke to Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and called for respect for democracy.

Trained as an imam, or prayer leader, Fethullah Gulen gained notice in Turkey some 50 years ago, promoting a philosophy that blended a mystical form of Islam with staunch advocacy of democracy, education, science and interfaith dialogue.

“When I stuck my head out, I could see helicopters shooting”, said Diego Cupolo, a photojournalist in Ankara.