Turkey's president says he narrowly escaped death or capture in coup

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyib Erdogan says he escaped death by only a few minutes before military coup plotters stormed the resort in southwest Turkey where he was vacationing last weekend.

Erdogan's interview was broadcast late Monday. He told CNN that 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 through a translator provided by the presidency.

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.

Leading global human rights groups have condemned Turkey's crackdown in the aftermath of a failed coup attempt, which has led to sweeping purges, detentions and arrests.

Amnesty International warned Monday that human rights were in "grave danger."

"The sheer number of arrests and suspensions since Friday is alarming," said John Dalhuisen, Amnesty's director for Europe and Central Asia. "Cracking down on dissent and threatening to bring back the death penalty are not justice."

Thousands of people have been dismissed or detained in the judiciary, interior ministry, military and police following Friday's failed coup. The large scale of the crackdown has also alarmed Turkey's key allies, the United States and the European Union.

Amnesty said it was investigating reports that detainees in Ankara and Istanbul had been subjected to a series of abuses, including ill-treatment in custody and being denied access to lawyers.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch Europe and Central Asia Director Hugh Williamson noted: "The speed and scale of the arrests, including of top judges, suggests a purge rather than a process based on any evidence. Turkey's citizens who took to the streets to defend democracy deserve a response that upholds the rule of law."

Meanwhile, Erdogan says that Turks want to reinstate the death penalty after so many terror attacks in the country.



Turkey abolished the death penalty in 2004 as it sought membership in the European Union. There have been renewed calls for capital punishment after the attempted coup.

Turkey has also seen a spate of bombings in recent months blamed on the Islamic State group and Kurdish rebels.