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Turkey coup plotters' plan revealed by WhatsApp messages: Report

Al Jazeera Arabic reports that it has obtained messages revealing the individuals and plans behind the attempted coup in Turkey
A Turkish special force police officer guards the site where President Erdogan attends the Istanbul funeral on 17 July 2016 of a victim of the coup attempt (AFP)
Par MEE staff

The plan for Turkey's attempted coup have reportedly been revealed in a series of conversations on a messaging application, which Al Jazeera Arabic said it obtained on Sunday.

Messages broadcast by the Qatar-based media organisation claimed to reveal how the Turkish coup plotters attempted to seize power from the democratically elected government.

Messages included a discussion around the implementation of martial law, as well as revealing names of individuals claimed to be at the heart of the coup plot.

The messages broadcast by Al Jazeera came from a group conversation between those involved in the coup on mobile messaging application WhatsApp.

Among the revelations aired were orders from the army plotters to allow vehicles to leave Istanbul but not enter the city on the bridges under their control, as well as naming Turkish officials and military figures they wanted to raid and arrest as soon as possible.

The conversation also included orders for soldiers to use live fire on police if they attempted to halt the military coup. Another message ordered live fire against the hotel President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was staying in on Friday evening. Erdogan was in the holiday resort of Marmaris on Turkey's southwest coast.

Erdogan left the hotel 30 minutes before it was struck by an explosion, and he later used his mobile phone to call into CNN Turk to urge Turks onto the street and to resist the coup attempt, which they did successfully.

Al Jazeera reported that Erdogan’s personal security foiled attempts by the coup plotters to raid the hotel he was in.

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