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Friday, July 22, 2016

The Latest: July 15 to be national holiday in Turkey

The government says 246 pro-government people — forces and civilians — died while confronting the attempted military coup. German government spokesman Steffen Seibert says several people detained in the wake of the failed coup had been shown on camera and appeared to have been mistreated. Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency says a colonel under investigation for alleged involvement in last week's failed coup appeared ready to jump off Istanbul's Bosporus Bridge, but was talked down by police hostage negotiators. The agency reports that authorities had been searching for the 44-year-old colonel as part of the investigation into last week's failed coup, which killed an estimated 270 people. Turkey is seeking the extradition of the eight, who received two-month suspended prison sentences in Greece Thursday for illegal entry into the country. The streets of Turkey's major cities were quiet Friday, a day after Turkish lawmakers approved a three-month state of emergency that allows the government to extend detention times and issue decrees without parliamentary approval. [...] in a sign of the underlying tensions in the country, protesters went to the Etimesgut military base in Ankara late Thursday and parked trucks and a bulldozer outside — possibly for fear that tanks might try to leave the facility.


READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.sfgate.com