Turkey Arrests 6,000 Following Failed Coup
Those detained include military personnel, judges and prosecutors.
— -- In the wake of the failed coup attempt in Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government has continued its crackdown, rounding up and detaining a total of around 6,000 people, the nation's justice minister said Sunday.
Those detained include military personnel, judges, prosecutors and others deemed to have supported Friday night's failed coup, a presidential official said.
About 265 civilians and 104 soldiers died in the coup attempt.
Erdogan received a personal phone call from Russian President Vladimir Putin expressing support for the Turkish government's success in putting down the attempted coup.
Dramatic Scenes From Turkey's Attempted Military Coup
Putin called any attempt to use violence or to unseat elected authorities "categorically unacceptable in the life of a state," according to a readout of the phone conversation published on the Kremlin's website. Putin also called on Erdogan to reestablis "firm conditional order" as quickly as possible.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said the perpetrators of Friday's failed coup "will receive every punishment they deserve."
The Yeni Safak newspaper used the headline "Traitors of the country," while the Hurriyet newspaper declared "Democracy's victory."
Still, the government crackdowns raised concerns over the future of democracy in Turkey, which has long prided itself on its democratic and secular traditions despite being in a tumultuous region swept by conflict and extremism.
Erdogan's survival has turned him into a "sort of a mythical figure" and could further erode democracy in Turkey, said Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish research program at The Washington Institute.
"It will allow [Erdogan] to crack down on liberty and freedom of association, assembly, expression and media in ways that we haven't seen before and find strong public support within the country," he said.
Before the weekend's chaos, Turkey -- a NATO member and key Western ally in the fight against the Islamic State group -- had been wracked by political turmoil that critics blamed on Erdogan's increasingly authoritarian rule. He has shaken up the government, cracked down on dissidents, restricted the news media and renewed fighting with Kurdish rebels.
But Saturday afternoon, when tensions eased, an atmosphere of celebration broke around as Turks answered official calls to rally to protect Turkish democracy. In Istanbul, crowds gathered at Taksim Square, where a man stood on an iconic monument with a Turkish flag draped on his chest.
ABC News' Alexander Marquardt and Patrick Reevell and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
