Rebel soldiers appear at Turkish court after attempted coup

Thirteen Turkish soldiers accused of participating in a raid on a hotel President Tayyip Erdogan had stayed in during Friday's (July 15) attempted coup were brought to court on Sunday (July 17), amid protests.

Police escorted the soldiers into the courthouse as angry protesters demanded the death penalty for the rebels.

A faction within Turkey's military attempted to overthrow the government on Friday night, sealing off a bridge over Istanbul's Bosphorus river, trying to capture the city's main airport, and sending tanks to parliament in Ankara.

But their efforts were thwarted when government supporters answered a call from Erdogan to take to the streets in defiance of the rebels.

President Erdogan has said that as the coup unfolded some plotters tried to attack him in the resort town of Marmaris, raiding a hotel he had stayed in shortly after he left. Some places he visited in the town were also bombed, the president said.

Around 25 soldiers in helicopters descended onto the hotel using ropes, shooting, just after Erdogan had left in an apparent attempt to seize him, broadcaster CNN Turk reported.

A successful overthrow of Erdogan, who has ruled the country of about 80 million people since 2003, could have sent Turkey spiralling into conflict and marked another seismic shift in the Middle East, five years after the Arab uprisings erupted and plunged its southern neighbour Syria into civil war.

An estimated 6,000 members of the military and judiciary have been detained in connection with the plot, according to the government.