The United States called on all parties in Turkey to support President Tayyip Erdogan’s government against a coup attempt as world leaders expressed concern about the upheaval in a NATO member country that bridges Europe and the Middle East.
President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry spoke by phone and gave their support to Erdogan after Turkey’s military said it had seized power on Friday. By early Saturday, Erdogan appeared to have regained control.
“The President and Secretary agreed that all parties in Turkey should support the democratically-elected government of Turkey, show restraint, and avoid any violence or bloodshed,” the White House said in a statement.
Erdogan has ruled Turkey since 2003 and if the coup against him was successful it would have been one of the biggest shifts in the Middle East in years.
The sharp-tongued Erdogan is often accused of authoritarian rule at home and has frequently fallen out with neighbors such as Israel, Iran, Russia and the European Union as he tried to carve out a greater role for Turkey in the Middle East.
But Turkey is a key ally for Washington which has often pointed to the country as a good example of a free-market democracy in the Muslim world, even though it has a poor record on freedom of expression.
Relations between Erdogan and the Obama administration have deteriorated in recent years as Washington complained that Ankara was not doing enough to fight Islamic State. Erdogan chafes at U.S. support for Syrian Kurdish rebels, who have close ties to Kurdish guerrillas fighting in Turkey.
The United States uses the Incirlik air base in Turkey to launch strikes against Islamic State, which holds territory in Syria and Iraq. It said those operations had not been affected by the upheaval.
The State Department told U.S. citizens in Turkey to “shelter in place and stay indoors.”
U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said she supported Turkey’s civilian government and was following the events in Turkey “with great concern.”