President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday launched his most bitter attack yet on Turkey's Western allies over the July 15 attempted putsch, accusing them of supporting both "terror" and the coup plotters who tried to unseat him.

For several hours on Friday night hundreds of Turkish soldiers appeared to have taken control of key areas of the main cities of Ankara and Istanbul.

Tensions rise in U.S.-Turkish relations as Erdogan targets Fethullah Gülen, a cleric who lives in Pennsylvania.

The Turkish government has indirectly criticized its NATO ally, the US, for providing a safe haven for Fethullah Gülen, whom Ankara blames for masterminding Friday’s military coup attempt. The cleric is currently living in self-imposed exile in the States.