Below is a timeline of breaking events in Turkey on Friday. All times in GMT, based on the times Reuters reported the events. Reuters does not vouch for events reported by other media. 
 
 
 
 2352 - Turkish PM says situation under control, blames Gulen movement, declares no-fly zone over Ankara. A U.S.-based organization close to Gulen earlier denied involvement. 
 
 
 
 2339 - Bomb hits parliament in Ankara, state-run Anadolu Agency says. Reuters witness hears blast in Istanbul. 
 
 
 
 2320 - Kerry says emphasized "absolute support for Turkey's democratically elected, civilian government and democratic institutions" in phone call with Turkish foreign minister. 
 
 
 
 2313 - Group close to U.S.-based cleric Gulen says accusations it was involved in coup attempt are "highly irresponsible". Condemns military intervention in Turkish politics, says concerned about safety of citizens. 
 
 
 
 2305 - President Obama says he and Secretary of State Kerry agree that all parties in Turkey should support elected government. Urges restraint, avoidance of bloodshed - White House statement. 
 
 
 
 2304 - State-run Anadolu Agency says 17 police killed at Ankara special forces HQ; no independent confirmation 
 
 
 
 2259 - Turkish fighter jet shoots down military helicopter used by coup-plotters over Ankara, broadcaster NTV says. 
 
 
 
 2251 - Commander of special forces says a group has engaged in treason, they will not succeed. Says military does not condone coup. 
 
 
 
 2247 - PM says gangs and illegal formations are behind coup attempt, and calls it a terrorist act. He says government remains in charge. Urges people to take to the streets. 
 
 
 
 2237 - Commander of Turkey's First Army, part of land forces responsible for Istanbul and other western areas, said those attempting a coup were a small faction and "nothing to worry about". 
 
 
 
 2226 - Two loud explosions heard in center of Turkish capital 
 
 
 
 2208 - Tanks surround Turkish parliament building, open fire. Gunfire heard at Istanbul airport. 
 
 
 
 2203 - Turkish justice minister says members of a movement loyal to U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen in the army are behind the attempted coup. 
 
 
 
 2151 - A military helicopter opens fire over the Turkish capital Ankara, witnesses report an explosion in the capital. 
 
 
 
 2135 - Turkish state broadcaster TRT goes off air, but later starts broadcasting from London. 
 
 
 
 2126 - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan urges people to take to the streets to protest against what he describes as a coup attempt by a minority faction within the military. Speaking to a CNN Turk reporter via a cellphone video link he says it will meet a "necessary response". He says he is returning to the capital Ankara. 
 
 
 
 2122 - Turkish PM says on Twitter everything will be done to put down coup attempt, even if it means fatalities. Says sieges are under way at some important buildings, without specifying, but urges people to remain calm. 
 
 
 
 2118 - Presidential source says president and government are still in power. 
 
 
 
 2105 - Turkish state broadcaster says reading statement on the orders of the military - that new constitution will be prepared, accuses government of eroding democratic and secular rule of law, that the country is being run by a "peace council", that martial law imposed, curfew imposed across the country. 
 
 
 
 2102 - Head of Istanbul branch of Turkey's ruling AK Party says soldiers enter party building, told to go. 
 
 
 
 2058 - Soldiers are inside buildings of Turkish state broadcaster TRT in Ankara, TRT correspondent tells Reuters. 
 
 
 
 2057 - Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social media restricted in Turkey, say internet monitoring groups. 
 
 
 
 2049 - Turkish presidential source says statement made on behalf of armed forces was not authorized by military command. 
 
 
 
 2047 - Turkish chief of military staff among hostages taken at military headquarters in Ankara, says state-run Anadolu agency. 
 
 
 
 2038 - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan is safe, reports CNN Turk. 
 
 
 
 2025 - Turkish military says has taken power to protect democratic order. In a statement sent by email and reported on Turkish TV channels, the military says all of Turkey's existing foreign relations will be maintained. 
 
 
 
 2002 - Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim says attempted coup under way, calls for calm. He says a group within Turkey's military has attempted to overthrow the government and security forces have been called in to "do what is necessary". 
 
 
 
 1950 - Gunshots are heard in Ankara, military jets and helicopters seen flying overhead. Helicopters seen overhead in Istanbul. 
 
 
 
 1929 - Istanbul's Bosphorus Bridge and Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge are both closed. Dogan News Agency footage shows cars and buses being diverted. ||||| ISTANBUL/ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish authorities rounded up nearly 3,000 suspected military plotters on Saturday and ordered thousands of judges detained after thwarting a coup by rebels using tanks and attack helicopters to try to topple President Tayyip Erdogan. 
 
 For several hours overnight on Friday violence shook Turkey’s two main cities, as the armed faction which tried to seize power blocked a bridge in Istanbul and strafed the headquarters of Turkish intelligence and parliament in Ankara. 
 
 At least 265 people were killed. An official said 161 of them were mostly civilians and police officers, while the remaining 104 were coup supporters. 
 
 But the coup attempt crumbled as Erdogan rushed back to Istanbul from a Mediterranean holiday and urged people to take to the streets to support his government against plotters he accused of trying to kill him. 
 
 “They will pay a heavy price for this,” said Erdogan, launching a purge of the armed forces, which last used force to stage a successful coup more than 30 years ago. “This uprising is a gift from God to us because this will be a reason to cleanse our army.” 
 
 Among those detained were top military commanders, including the head of the Second Army which protects the country’s borders with Syria, Iraq and Iran, state-run Anadolu news agency said. 
 
 Hundreds of soldiers were held in Ankara for alleged involvement in the coup, leaving police stations overflowing. 
 
 Some had to be taken under armed police escort in buses to a sports stadium. Reuters footage showed some of the detainees, handcuffed and stripped from the waist up, sitting on the floor of one of the buses. 
 
 The government declared the situation under control, saying 2,839 people had been rounded up, from foot soldiers to senior officers, including those who formed “the backbone” of the rebellion. 
 
 Authorities also began a major crackdown in the judiciary over suspected links to U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, removing from their posts and ordering the detention of nearly 3,000 prosecutors and judges, including from top courts. 
 
 Erdogan has blamed the coup on supporters of Gulen, who he has frequently accused of trying to foment uprising in the military, media and judiciary. 
 
 Ten members of the High Council of Judges and Prosecutors and two members of the Constitutional Court have already been detained, officials said. 
 
 OBAMA’S SUPPORT 
 
 A successful overthrow of Erdogan, who has ruled the country of about 80 million people since 2003, would have marked another seismic shift in the Middle East, five years after the Arab uprisings erupted and plunged Turkey’s southern neighbor Syria into civil war. 
 
 However, a failed coup attempt could still destabilize the NATO member and major U.S. ally that lies between the European Union and the chaos of Syria, with Islamic State bombers targeting Turkish cities and the government also at war with Kurdish separatists. 
 
 U.S. President Barack Obama expressed support for Turkey’s government and urged parties on all sides of the crisis to avoid destabilizing the country and follow the rule of law. But his secretary of state, John Kerry, warned Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu that public suggestions of a U.S. role in the plot were “utterly false” and harmful to relations. 
 
 Erdogan, who had been holidaying on the southwest coast when the coup was launched, flew into Istanbul before dawn on Saturday and told thousands of flag-waving supporters at the airport that the government remained at the helm. 
 
 A polarizing figure whose Islamist-rooted ideology lies at odds with supporters of modern Turkey’s secular principles, Erdogan said the plotters had tried to attack him in the resort town of Marmaris. 
 
 “They bombed places I had departed from right after I was gone,” he said. “They probably thought we were still there.” 
 
 Erdogan’s AK Party has long had strained relations with the military, which has a history of mounting coups to defend secularism although it has not seized power directly since 1980. 
 
 His conservative religious vision for Turkey’s future has also alienated many ordinary citizens who accuse him of authoritarianism. Police used heavy force in 2013 to suppress mass protests demanding more freedom. 
 
 He commands the admiration and loyalty of millions of Turks, however, particularly for raising living standards and restoring order to an economy once beset by regular crises, which grew 4.8 percent year-on-year in the first quarter. 
 
 The violence is likely to hit a tourism industry already suffering from the bombings, and business confidence is also vulnerable. 
 
 SMARTPHONE ADDRESS 
 
 In a night that sometimes verged on the bizarre, Erdogan frequently took to social media, even though he is an avowed enemy of the technology when his opponents use it and frequently targets Twitter and Facebook. 
 
 He addressed the nation via a video calling service, appearing on the smartphone of a CNN Turk reporter who held it up to a studio camera. 
 
 He also urged Washington to deport Gulen, who lives in self-imposed exile in the United States. The cleric, who once supported Erdogan but became a leading adversary, condemned the attempted coup and said he played no role in it. 
 
 “As someone who suffered under multiple military coups during the past five decades, it is especially insulting to be accused of having any link to such an attempt. I categorically deny such accusations,” Gulen said in a statement. 
 
 Kerry said the United States was willing to help Turkey as it tries to identify those involved in the coup attempt, but made clear it would only act if there was evidence against Gulen. 
 
 SOLDIERS SURRENDER 
 
 Gunfire and explosions had rocked both Istanbul and Ankara through the night after soldiers took up positions in both cities and ordered state television to read out a statement declaring they had taken power. However, by dawn the noise of fighting had died down considerably. 
 
 About 50 soldiers involved in the coup surrendered on one of the bridges across the Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul after dawn on Saturday, abandoning their tanks with their hands raised in the air. Reuters witnesses saw government supporters attack the pro-coup soldiers who had surrendered. 
 
 Supporters of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan gather at Taksim Square in central Istanbul, Turkey, July 16, 2016. REUTERS/Kemal Aslan 
 
 By Saturday afternoon, CNN Turk reported that security forces had completed an operation against coup plotters at the headquarters of the military general staff. Security sources also said police detained about 100 military officers at an air base in the southeast. 
 
 Neighboring Greece arrested eight men aboard a Turkish military helicopter which landed in the northern city of Alexandroupolis on Saturday, the Greek police ministry said, adding that they had requested political asylum. 
 
 At one stage military commanders were held hostage by the plotters and by Saturday evening — 24 hours after the coup was launched — some operations against rebels were continuing. 
 
 Cavusoglu, the foreign minister, said soldiers at the Incirlik air base, used by the United States to launch air strikes on Islamic State targets in Syria, were involved in the attempt. He said Turkey would resume operations with the U.S.-led coalition once the anti-coup operations were completed. 
 
 LAWMAKERS IN HIDING 
 
 The coup began with warplanes and helicopters roaring over Ankara and troops moving in to seal off the bridges over the Bosphorus, which separates Europe and Asia in Istanbul. 
 
 Turkish maritime authorities reopened the Bosphorus to transiting tankers after shutting the major trade route from the Black Sea to the Aegean for several hours for security and safety reasons. 
 
 In the early hours of Saturday, lawmakers hid in shelters inside the parliament building, which was fired on by tanks. An opposition deputy told Reuters that parliament was hit three times and people had been wounded. 
 
 When parliament convened later in the day, the four main political parties - running the gamut from Erdogan’s right-wing Islamist-rooted AK Party to the left-of-center, pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) - came together in a rare show of unity to condemn the attempted coup. 
 
 A Turkish military commander also said fighter jets had shot down a helicopter used by the coup plotters over Ankara. 
 
 Momentum turned against the coup plotters as the night wore on. Crowds defied orders to stay indoors, gathering at major squares in Istanbul and Ankara, waving flags and chanting. 
 
 “We have a prime minister, we have a chief of command, we’re not going to leave this country to degenerates,” shouted one man, as groups of government supporters climbed onto a tank near Ataturk airport. 
 
 Kerry said he had phoned the Turkish foreign minister and underlined “absolute support for Turkey’s democratically elected, civilian government and democratic institutions”. 
 
 FLIGHTS RESUME 
 
 Flag carrier Turkish Airlines resumed flights on Saturday, though some foreign carriers canceled weekend flights. 
 
 At the height of the action, rebel soldiers took control of TRT state television, which announced a countrywide curfew and martial law. An announcer read a statement on the orders of the pro-coup faction that accused the government of eroding the democratic and secular rule of law. Turkey would be run by a “peace council” that would ensure the safety of the population, the statement said. 
 
 Turkey is one of the main backers of opponents of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria’s civil war and hosts 2.7 million Syrian refugees. It was a departure point last year for the biggest influx of migrants to Europe since World War Two. 
 
 Slideshow (28 Images) 
 
 Turkey has suffered numerous bombings and shootings this year, including an attack two weeks ago by Islamists at Ataturk airport that killed more than 40 people, as well as those staged by Kurdish militants. 
 
 After serving as prime minister from 2003, Erdogan was elected president in 2014 with plans to alter the constitution to give the previously ceremonial presidency far greater executive powers. ||||| Living next to the man Erdoğan blames for trying to overthrow the Turkish government has its perks – dinner invitations, for example 
 
 The rural town of Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, seems unfazed by the attempted military coup that rocked Turkey overnight on Friday, and threatened to destabilise the region. 
 
 Fethullah Gülen: Turkey coup may have been 'staged' by Erdoğan regime Read more 
 
 At a little over 5,000 miles away from Istanbul – Turkey’s biggest city and the heart of the country’s failed putsch – that is hardly surprising, save for the fact that the uprising’s alleged mastermind, Fethullah Gülen, has made his home in Saylorsburg. 
 
 His presence causes commotion from time to time. When Turkey is sporadically plunged into political chaos, attention often turns towards his guarded compound. It was the same on Friday, when residents could hear helicopters circling over Gülen’s home. 
 
 Apart from mysterious choppers, there are also the occasional anti-Gülen protesters. Sometimes they drive up and down Mt Eaton Road, one of the main thoroughfares in the farming town, waving the Turkish flag out of their windows. 
 
 Apart from that, living next to the man who Recep Tayyip Erdoğan personally blames for trying to overthrow the government has few downsides. Indeed, it can have perks – invitations to Thanksgiving dinner, for example. Or, even, some claim, a trip to Turkey. 
 
 
 
 To the wider world, Gülen’s living arrangements are shrouded in secrecy. It is peculiar enough that the leader of the Hizmet movement, in self-exile from Turkey, lives in a small Pennsylvania town, nestled in the Poconos. 
 
 Have you been affected by the attempted coup in Turkey? Read more 
 
 He sleeps in a small and spartan room in a sprawling complex, the Golden Generation Worship and Retreat Center, where his movement offers religious instruction. At any given time, there are up to 80 visitors undergoing religious retreats. For a man widely described as reclusive, he has many guests, including Saylorsburg residents. 
 
 
 
 Chuck Parker, who lives down the road from Gülen, said: “When we have the traditional Thanksgiving, he has a dinner then. He also has a dinner for Ramadan.” He and many other residents have received invitations, which often come with a personal touch. “They usually hand-deliver it, or one of the guys brings it over.” 
 
 The dinners arouse much interest among some of the residents. One elderly man, who asked not to be named, said: “I went to a dinner four years ago. My mother was 97. She always wanted to go, because other neighbors from the area went. And then we went.” 
 
 World leaders express support for Turkey after attempted coup Read more 
 
 The man, who was taking a break from picking cucumbers from his vegetable patch, said: “I’ve been to his dinners a couple of times. They treat you nice. You don’t see him,” he said, referring to Gülen. “They escort you to the building. They tell you where to park. There is an escort there, and an escort back.” 
 
 Residents agree that the warm welcome and hospitality that Gülen offers residents is a defining feature of the group’s presence in the town. Holly Parker, a stained-glass artist who has received invitations to the dinners, said: “According to the Muslim culture, they invite the neighbors for things … They do it to extend themselves out into the community a little bit. I think they realize that there might be a few people in the community who might be wary.” 
 
 Though none of the people the Guardian met in Saylorsburg had anything bad to say about the neighborliness of Gülen, Parker suggested that some residents might “feel iffy” about the group being headquartered in their town. “Some people are a little wary, and have questions like: why are they here? Why are they in the country?” But, she insists, she has no complains to make of them. “They’ve been very nice.” 
 
 Some residents have gotten very close to Gülen. “Some of the neighbors have had more personal and close contact,” Parker said. “A friend of ours, whose mother lives next door to the camp, he’s a contractor in the area. He did a lot of building for them, when they were building the resort situation back there.” 
 
 
 
 The Guardian was not able to reach the contractor, Howard Beers Jr, but two residents confirmed that he had worked for Gülen. “Several years ago, they offered to take him and his wife to tour Turkey,” said Parker. Beers wasn’t the only resident to have been invited to Turkey by the organization. “At the time, they offered to take our pastor as well. He didn’t go.” Parker added that, back then, the members of the movement, which often promotes interfaith dialogue, would visit her non-denominational church “every once in a while”. 
 
 Some locals see the presence of the well-funded Hizmet movement as a business opportunity. “When I am ready to sell this house, I am going to go to the Turks, and see if they want to buy it,” said the elderly neighbor who was taking a break from the vegetable patch. He added that a contractor, presumably Beers, had “made his millions” working for Gülen. 
 
 'We thought coups were in the past': how Turkey was caught unaware Read more 
 
 Others in the area are catering to the movement in different ways. Parker recalled: “It’s interesting, the local K-Mart for a while was playing what I think was popular Turkish music down at [the nearby town of] Wind Gap. There are a lot of Turkish families moving in. You see them in the local stores sometimes.” 
 
 Fleeting glimpses of the Turkish community prompts different responses among longtime residents. “If you drive early in the morning, you see moms standing out with their children along the road waiting for the bus. I look and think, I just hope there is enough of a community ... It must be very lonely to be a mom and isolated in this area.” Chuck Parker, her husband, added: “I always wave to the ladies. Sometimes they are a little shy.” 
 
 
 
 If Gülen is extending a hand of friendship to his neighbors, many are returning the gesture. “We’re all immigrants here,” said Parker. “In my family, we’re part French, Hungarian, English. This is what America is about. We weren’t liked when we arrived either. But we’re Americans now.” ||||| CLOSE Turkey's president says the coup was organized by the followers of Fethullah Gülen, a cleric living in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania. Video provided by Newsy Newslook 
 
 Turkish Prime Minister and the leader of Turkey's ruling party, the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) , Binali Yildirim stands as he speaks during the AK Party's group meeting at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey in Ankara on July 19, 2016. (Photo: Adem Altan, AFP/Getty Images) 
 
 Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim confirmed Tuesday an official request was sent to the United States for the extradition of Fethullah Gulen, a suspect linked to Friday's coup attempt, according to state-run media. 
 
 “We have sent four dossiers to the United States for the extradition of the terrorist chief," Turkish Prime Minister Birnili Yildirim said during the ruling Justice and Development Party meeting at the parliament in Ankara, the Anadolu Agency reported. 
 
 Mark Toner, deputy spokesman at the State Department, said Turkey this morning sent the State Department materials “which we are in the process of analyzing under the treaty” that governs extradition requests. 
 
 “I am not in position at this point in time to judge whether they constitute a formal extradition request,” Toner said. “There’s a well-defined process in place that govern these types of actions.” 
 
 Toner added that this was not an "overnight process" and that he did not want to comment on the documents until "we determine they constitute a formal extradition request.” 
 
 White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the materials would be reviewed by the Departments of State and Justice. 
 
 President Obama spoke by telephone Tuesday with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, reiterating U.S. commitment to the democratically elected government of Turkey, but also urging those arrested in the wake of the coup attempt be afforded their rights of due process under the Turkish Constitution, Earnest said. 
 
 Gulen has denied allegations that he was involved in the overthrow attempt and told reporters that he would have tried to stop any takeover had he known about it. 
 
 “I condemn and reject in the strongest terms the attempted coup,” Gulen, 77, said in an interview Monday with USA TODAY and several other reporters. 
 
 Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday that if an extradition request for Gulen was made, the U.S. would agree to it only if there were compelling proof of wrongdoing by the cleric. 
 
 "We need to see genuine evidence that withstands the standard of scrutiny that exists in many countries' system of law with respect to the issue of extradition," Kerry said. "If it meets that standard, there's nothing — there's no interest we have in standing in the way of appropriately honoring the treaty that we have with Turkey." 
 
 Earnest said Monday that "the suggestion that somehow the United States is harboring Mr. Gulen is factually incorrect." 
 
 Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said there are 9,322 suspects involved in the coup attempt and all are going through legal procedures, Kurtulmus said. 
 
 A thousand pro-government protesters rallied in Istanbul on Tuesday, waving flags and demanding the death penalty for those involved with the coup, the Associated Press reported. 
 
 The Supreme Council of Radio and Television also canceled licenses of 24 Gulen-linked broadcasters — including Samanyolu, Can Erzincan television and Dunya Radio, according to the agency. 
 
 Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, who lives in Pennsylvania, speaks to reporters July 18, 2016. (Photo: Oren Dorell, USA TODAY) 
 
 Erdogan, who beat down the attempted coup by Saturday morning, has rounded up and dismissed thousands of members of the military, police and judiciary he accuses of being followers of Gulen and plotting against Turkey’s democratically elected government. 
 
 Turkey’s Board of Higher Education requested resignations from 1,577 university deans. Of the deans dismissed, 1,176 worked in public universities and 401 in private institutions, Anadolu reported Tuesday. 
 
 Gulen, a former political ally of Erdogan, preaches a moderate form of Islam and has lived in self-exile in Pennsylvania since 1999. His followers run a network of charter schools and cultural centers in the United States and are prolific political donors. 
 
 Contributing: Gregg Zoroya in Mclean, Va.; Oren Dorell in Washington, D.C. 
 
 Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2a7SiCQ ||||| Vice President Joe Biden and Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim hold a joint press conference following their meeting Wednesday at the Cankaya Palace in Ankara. Biden said Washington had made clear that pro-Kurdish forces in Syria must not to cross west of the Euphrates River, a prospect alarming for Turkey. His comments come after Turkish troops launched an operation inside Syria to cleanse the key town of Jarabulus from Islamic State jihadists. (Photo: ADEM ALTAN, AFP/Getty Images) 
 
 WASHINGTON — Vice President Biden told Turkish officials in Ankara Wednesday that it would be "an impeachable offense" for President Obama to turn over a cult leader living in Pennsylvania who Turkey suspects is behind the attempted coup last month. 
 
 "Under American law no president of the United States has authority to extradite anyone on his own power. Only an American court can do that," Biden said after meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım. "We have no, no, no, no interest whatsoever in protecting anyone who has done harm to an ally, but we need to meet legal standard requirement under our law." 
 
 The extradition of Fethullah Gülen, who has been living in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999, has long been a point of friction between the United States and Turkey, a strategically important NATO ally whose help is crucial to the fight against the Islamic State. But those tensions flared up after an coup attempt on July 15, which Turkey blames on the cleric and opposition leader. 
 
 "This heinous coup attempt was in our opinion orchestrated and instructed by Fethullah Gülen, and as per the treaties we have, the necessary steps should be taken with a view to his extradition," Yıldırım told Biden. He said a team of lawyers dispatched from Washington to review the case "is clear sign from your side that you’re taking this seriously and attaching great importance to it." 
 
 Biden also reassured Turkish leaders that the United States had no advance knowledge or "Let me be clear. I want to ease any speculation, some of which I have heard, as to whether or not the U.S. had some advance warning, some foreknowledge or complicity," he said. "The people of the United States of America abhor what happened, and under no circumstances would support anything remotely approaching the cowardly act of the treasonous members of military." 
 
 Biden's arrival in the Turkish capital came just hours after a joint operation by coalition forces — including the U.S. and Turkey — launched an offensive to to capture an Islamic State stronghold across the border in Syria. 
 
 But that operation, too, required delicate diplomacy by Biden. The U.S. is coordinating its efforts with a Kurdish militia force known as the YPG. Turkey considers it a terrorist group supporting Kurdish separatists inside Turkey. Yıldırım acknowledged that the Islamic State is the "greater threat," but insisted that YPG forces remain east of the Euphrates River. 
 
 "They must move back across the river," Biden agreed. "They cannot — will not — under any circumstance get American support if they do not keep that commitment." 
 
 Biden and Yıldırım spoke at a news conference following a meeting that also discussed human rights issues in Turkey. Earlier, Biden also toured the parliament building, which was damaged in the coup attempt. 
 
 Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2bnjhHu ||||| People chant slogans and wave Turkish flags as they gather in Taksim Square in Istanbul, protesting against the attempted coup, Monday, July 18, 2016. The Turkish government accelerated its crackdown... (Associated Press) 
 
 ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The purging of thousands of alleged plotters of a failed coup raised tensions Monday between Turkey and the West, with U.S. and European officials urging restraint, while Ankara insisted that Washington extradite an exile accused of orchestrating the plot. 
 
 Authorities have fired nearly 9,000 police officers, bureaucrats and others, while detaining thousands more alleged to have been involved in Friday night's attempted coup, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported. 
 
 Former air force commander Akin Ozturk, alleged to be the ringleader of the uprising, was put under arrest following questioning by a magistrate along with 25 other suspects, the news agency said. Ozturk, who has denied involvement and insisted he had tried to suppress the rebellion, appeared in video from Turkish TV looking bruised with a bandage over his ear. 
 
 President Recep Tayyip Erdogan refused to rule out bringing back the death penalty, telling the U.S. cable TV station CNN in an interview via a government translator, "There is a clear crime of treason." He added that it would be up to parliament to decide. 
 
 "if they accept to discuss it then I as president will approve any decision that comes out of the parliament," he said. He said Turks have been calling for the reinstatement of the death penalty because of the increased terror attacks and demand for swift justice. 
 
 Anadolu said 8,777 employees attached to the Interior Ministry were dismissed, including 30 governors, 52 civil service inspectors and 16 legal advisers. Other media reports said police, military police and members of the coast guard also were removed from duty. 
 
 During the uprising by a faction of the military, warplanes fired on government buildings and tanks rolled into the streets of major cities before the rebellion was put down by forces loyal to the government and pro-Erdogan civilians who took to the streets. The top brass did not support the coup. 
 
 Erdogan told CNN that he escaped death by only a few minutes before coup plotters stormed the resort in southwest Turkey where he was vacationing last weekend when the coup unfolded. 
 
 He said soldiers supporting the coup killed two of his bodyguards when they stormed the resort early Saturday. 
 
 "Had I stayed 10, 15 additional minutes, I would have been killed or I would have been taken," he told CNN. 
 
 Revealing new details of the night of the coup, Erdogan said the renegade soldiers were in control of the command and control towers at Istanbul's Ataturk International Airport for hours before forces loyal to the president were able to regain control. He said that about 10,000 supporters were at the airport to greet him when his plane landed. 
 
 He also said that power was shut off at all military bases, including the Incirlik air base in southern Turkey used by the U.S.-led coalition jets fighting the Islamic State group, because the military didn't want to risk having the conspirators use them. 
 
 Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said 232 people — 208 government supporters he called "martyrs," as well as 24 coup plotters — died in the unrest. His voice cracked and he wept as he spoke with reporters after a Cabinet meeting and repeated a question his grandson had put to him: "Why are they killing people?" 
 
 He said he had no answer, but that Turkey would make the coup plotters answer "in such a way that the whole world will see." 
 
 As Western officials expressed alarm at the rapid roundup of so many by their key NATO ally, Turkish government officials explained that the plotters in the military had been under investigation and launched their ill-planned operation out of panic. 
 
 The swift move against so many reflected the prior investigation, the government said. It alleged the coup conspirators were loyal to moderate cleric Fethullah Gulen, a former Erdogan ally who lives in exile in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, and espouses a philosophy that blends a mystical form of Islam with democracy. 
 
 Erdogan has often accused Gulen of trying to overthrow the government, and Turkey has demanded his extradition, labeling his movement a terrorist organization and putting him on trial in absentia. Gulen strongly denies the government's charges and has suggested that Friday's attempted coup could have been staged, as a pretext for the Erdogan government to seize even more power. 
 
 U.S. officials have said that the U.S. will consider extraditing Gulen, if the Turkish government offers evidence that he was involved in the plot or committed crimes. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the U.S. would follow procedures in a decades-old extradition treaty and called Turkish charges that the U.S. was harboring Gulen "factually incorrect." 
 
 Erdogan said an official formal request will be conveyed to the United States demanding the extradition of Gulen. 
 
 "Even if he is a citizen of the U.S., the U.S. should not keep such a terrorist," Erdogan told CNN. He said if Gulen is on Turkey's terrorist list that should be enough for the U.S. to extradite him. 
 
 Yildirim said the normal U.S. legal processes would not be good enough. 
 
 "We would be disillusioned and would question our friendship if our friends were to say to us 'Show us the evidence.' despite all the efforts ... to eradicate the elected government and the national will of a country," he said, while adding that the Justice Ministry was preparing documents to send to the United States. 
 
 Over the weekend, Turkey responded to the coup attempt by rounding up some 6,000 people, including hundreds of judges and prosecutors. 
 
 Reacting to the large number of arrests in the military and the judiciary, as well as Erdogan's suggestion that Turkey could bring back the death penalty, Western officials were urging Turkey to maintain the rule of law. 
 
 Earnest said President Barack Obama would call Erdogan soon to reiterate U.S. support for Turkey's democratically elected civilian government and make the case for restraint and respect for the freedoms enshrined in the Turkish constitution. 
 
 EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said at a news conference with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that the coup "is no excuse to take the country away from fundamental rights and the rule of law, and we will be extremely vigilant on that." 
 
 Kerry added that Turkey must "uphold the highest standards for the country's democratic institutions and the rule of law." 
 
 While he recognized the need to apprehend the coup plotters, Kerry said: "We caution against a reach that goes beyond that." 
 
 Mogherini said the talks on Turkey's bid to join the European Union would end if Ankara restores the death penalty. That message was echoed by Germany, the EU's biggest state. 
 
 "The institution of the death penalty can only mean that such a country could not be a member," Steffen Seibert, spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel, said in Berlin. 
 
 NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, who said he spoke to Erdogan, praised the Turkish people for showing "great courage," but he also said it was essential for the alliance member to "ensure full respect for democracy and its institutions, the constitutional order, the rule of law and fundamental freedoms." 
 
 For the fourth night in a row, hundreds took to public squares in major cities, including Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir, in a fresh show of support for the government. They waved Turkish flags, shouted pro-government slogans and sang praise of Erdogan. 
 
 Mostafa Minawi, director of the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Initiative at Cornell University, called the failed coup "a gift for President Erdogan, given him all the justification he needs to implement further clamp down measures against any dissenters, in the process sinking Turkey deeper into authoritarianism." 
 
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 Soguel reported from Istanbul. Desmond Butler in Washington contributed to this report.
– After a military coup attempt that now appears to be firmly quashed, the Turkish government is focusing its wrath on Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania. The town is home to Fethullah Gulen, an influential cleric who leads a popular movement called Hizmet, and President Recep Tayyib Erdogan blames his followers for the coup attempt that left at least 161 dead in overnight clashes, the New York Times reports. "I have a message for Pennsylvania: You have engaged in enough treason against this nation," Erdogan said early Saturday. "If you dare, come back to your country." Gulen, a moderate Muslim cleric who has lived in the US since 1999, was Erdogan's ally until 2013, when the leader blamed him for corruption allegations. In other coverage: Vox has more on the Gulenist movement, which runs a large network of schools and supports interfaith dialogue, secular democracy, science, and a progressive stance on social issues. Gulen says he condemns the coup attempt "in the strongest terms." The AP reports that John Kerry says the US would consider an extradition request for Gulen, though nothing has been received yet and firm evidence would be required. "We fully anticipate that there will be questions raised about Mr. Gulen," Kerry told reporters. "And obviously we would invite the government of Turkey, as we always do, to present us with any legitimate evidence that withstands scrutiny." The New York Times looks at how the fallout from the coup will make the region's politics even more complicated for the US and Europe, which saw Erdogan's government as a stable and reliable ally. "The danger here is this could spiral out of control and turn into a full-blown civil war," says former US Ambassador to Turkey Eric S. Edelman. CNN reports on how many civilian supporters of Erdogan stood up to the coup attempt, in some cases blocking military vehicles with their cars and even lying down in front of tanks. Almost 3,000 military service members have been arrested and almost the same number of judges have been removed from their duties in what appears to be a nationwide purge of Gulen supporters, the Guardian reports. Reuters reports that Erdogan, who had been vacationing on the country's southeast coast, addressed thousands of supporters after flying into Ankara's airport early Saturday. " This uprising is a gift from God to us because this will be a reason to cleanse our army," he said. Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildirim says 161 people were killed and 1,440 were injured in the coup attempt, but a government source tells the AP that the figures exclude coup plotters, meaning the true toll could be much higher. Greece says it will return a Blackhawk helicopter flown to the country from Turkey, but it will examine the asylum claims made by the eight military members on board, including two majors, the AP reports.