The foreign minister has asked Indonesian nationals to not panic, remain calm and not to go out of the airport."
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Following a coup attempt in Turkey, Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Retno LP Marsudi has called on 60 Indonesian nationals stranded in Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, Turkey, to remain calm.

Marsudi called a representative of the stranded Indonesians, mostly tourists, and told them to remain calm and stay indoors, Director of Protection of Indonesian Citizens and Indonesian Legal Body of the Indonesian Foreign Affairs Ministry Lalu Muhammad Iqbal said here Saturday.

"The foreign minister has asked Indonesian nationals to not panic, remain calm and not to go out of the airport," he stated.

She told them that the Indonesian consul general in Istanbul knew about their situation and would give necessary assistance when the airport is reopened, he noted.

Of the Indonesians stranded at the Istanbul airport, 48 are tourists joining travel tours.

Meanwhile, a coup attempt by an army faction in Turkey has been put down, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said, after thousands of people heeded a call from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and took to the streets, Aljazeera reported.

A no-fly zone had been declared over the capital, Ankara, with the blame falling on followers of US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, Yildirim told broadcaster NTV.

"The coup attempt has been foiled," Turkeys national intelligence agency had earlier said in a statement.

Sections of the Turkish army had earlier officially declared a coup and martial law, saying that they had "taken control of the country" as Istanbuls main airport was closed and fighter jets were seen in the skies.

Erdogan, in a phone call to broadcaster CNN Turk Friday, said he remained the president of the country and the head of the army and called for people to take to the streets against the coup.

"We will overcome this," Erdogan said, speaking on a video call to a mobile phone held up to the camera by a presenter.

He called on his followers to take to the streets to defend his government and said the coup plotters would pay a heavy price.

Erdogan was speaking from Marmaris on the Turkish coast where he was on holiday, an official said. Erdogan said he would swiftly return to Ankara, according to Aljazeera.
(T.A060/Uu.F001/INE/KR-BSR)

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