ISTANBUL, July 17 (KUNA) -- Turkish police arrested Sunday seven servicemen in an airbase in the central state of Konya, including operations commander Mustafa Erturk, security sources said.
The crack down in the air base is ongoing, Anadolu news agency quoted the sources as saying but there were no confrontations so far.
They said many citizens gathered in front of the air base carrying the Turkish flags and chanting with pro-police slogans.
Police forces entered the air base earlier and arrested servicemen suspected of having links with the failed coup attempt, which was staged last Friday.
Commander of security at Istanbul's Sabiha Gokcen airport, the city's second largest airport, was also arrested.
Earlier today, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said life was back to normal in the country after the coup.
He made the statement in a speech broadcast live on television, adding that the persons behind the coup were defeated.
He stressed the importance of differentiating between military men who love their homeland and the gangs with military uniforms, adding that the latters "are not soldiers but criminals who directed tanks towards citizens and opened fire at them mercilessly." He affirmed that there is cleansing operations conducted at all state's institutions to bring the putschists to justice.
Yildirim urged citizens to show restraint and avoid excessive acts, noting that the armed forces are "our future and security," so he called for protecting them.
Meanwhile, the chief of the General staff Hulusi Acar praised role of the Turkish people in confronting the putschists, stressing continued role of the armed forces in serving the state and people.
More than 100 rebels and up to 190 citizens were killed, 6,000 insurgents were detained and more than 1,400 people were wounded in the failed coup. (pickup previous) ta.bs