Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that last week's failed coup tried unsuccessfully to make a minority dominate the country's majority.
Speaking in an interview with Qatar-based Al Jazeera TV late Wednesday, Erdogan reiterated it was a minority within the Turkish Armed Forces that carried out the deadly coup attempt.
"It is clear that they are in the minority. This organization that we called a terrorist organization is trying to make the minority dominate the majority. We have taken all the steps necessary to prevent such an event," he said.
"As long as we join hands and accompany the people, the tanks could do nothing," Erdoğan said, referring to the thousands of Turks who responded to his call to take to the streets last Friday to protest the coup.
Turkey's government has said the attempted coup was organized by followers of U.S.-based cleric Fetullah Gulen, who is accused of a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through infiltrating Turkish state institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary, forming a “parallel state."
At least 240 people, including members of the security forces and civilians, were martyred during the failed putsch, and nearly 1,500 others were wounded as they protested it.
