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Tens of thousands of people in Germany have turned out in support of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in a rally that raised diplomatic tensions.

Mr Erdogan had planned to address the rally in the city of Cologne, held to denounce an attempted coup two weeks ago, by video link.

But on Saturday, Germany's Constitutional Court banned the speech from being broadcast.

German media said at least 35,000 people turned out.

An estimated three million people of Turkish origin live in Germany, the majority of whom voted for Mr Erdogan's AKP party in the last Turkish election, according to the Turkish Communities in Germany organisation.

"We are here because our compatriots in Germany advocate democracy and are against the attempted military coup," Turkey's German-born Sport and Youth Minister Akif Cagatay Kilic said in Cologne.

Turkey coup attempt: Government cancels 50,000 passports as global concern grows over crackdown

The Turkish government has cancelled the passports of around 50,000 people to prevent them leaving the country as a crackdown continues following a failed coup.

Efkan Ala, the interior minister, said more than 18,000 have so far been detained over the attempt to oust President Tayyip Erdogan, while thousands of government staff are under investigation.

The purges have provoked alarm in the international community, presenting a major stumbling block for Turkey’s campaign to join the European Union.

Turkey shakes up security forces after coup attempt

Amid calls for restraint from the US and European allies, hundreds of listed conscripts were released from detention and Mr Erdogan announced he was dropping prosecutions against around 2,000 people alleged to have “insulted him”.

Military school students were reportedly among 758 out of 989 conscripts released at the request of the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor after a court ruled that they did not pose a flight risk.

Mr Erdogan’s government is using powers under Turkey’s state of emergency to conduct a wide-ranging crackdown on alleged supporters of the exiled Muslim cleric Fetullah Gulen, who lives in the US.

Authorities say the failed coup on 15 July was staged by a military faction loyal to the Gulen or “Hismet” movement, but it has denied involvement.

Incirlik AB has about 1800 US personnel stationed there with perhaps another 1000 deployed there to fight ISIS (mostly pilots & aircraft maintenance). Most are in support positions and thus they have only basic M-16 shooting skills, ie we know which way to point the pointy end of the gun… Security forces number perhaps 200 or so and they would have extensive firearms training. Turkey could easily send in 5000 combat troops and take control of the base after a nasty fire fight with security forces personnel.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a new presidential decree Sunday that introduced sweeping changes to Turkey’s military in the wake of a July 15 failed coup, bringing the armed forces under his authority.

The decree, the third issued under a three-month state of emergency declared following the attempted coup, gives the president the authority to issue direct orders to the commanders of the army, air force and navy.

It also announces the discharge of 1,389 military personnel, including Erdogan’s chief military adviser, who had been arrested days after the attempted coup, the Chief of General Staff’s charge d’affaires and the defence minister’s chief secretary.

In an interview Saturday with private A Haber television, Erdogan said he also wanted to put the country’s MIT intelligence agency and the chief of general staff’s headquarters under the presidency.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday criticized the US intelligence chief and a top general for saying that Washington‘s key interlocutors in Turkey are now either purged or jailed following the failed coup attempt.

"Who are you?" Erdogan said, speaking at Turkey‘s security headquarters in Ankara, which was damaged during the bloody coup attempt. "You should know your place."

Many of our interlocutors have been purged or arrested," US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said. "There‘s no question this is going to set back and make more difficult cooperation with the Turks."

General Joseph Votel, the chief of US Central Command, spoke in a similar vein. "We are very dependent on Turkey for basing of our resources. I am concerned that it will impact the level of cooperation and collaboration that we have with Turkey.

In his reaction, Erdogan accused US officials of "taking the side of the putschists."

The powerful imams in Turkey’s 85,000 mosques played a major role in thwarting the attempt to overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and in so doing unleashed attacks on Christian places of worship, reports say.

Christians are pointing to a transformation in the political cultural character of Turkey under Erdogan’s Islamist path to power.

“The reality is that Turkey is neither a democracy nor a secular republic,” said Yuce Kabakci, a pastor in Istanbul. “There is no division between government affairs and religious affairs.”

Gangs chanting “Allahu akbar” smashed the glass frontage of a Protestant church in Matalya, the UK’s Express reported. “The attack on the church was light. But it’s significant that it was the only shopfront attack in those three days,” said the church’s minister, Pastor Tim Stone. “We were the only targets.”

Protestants are not allowed to build churches in Turkey. Even the name church must be coupled to the non-threatening “association.”

In the Black Sea city of Trabzon, the Santa Maria church was hit as, under the guise of an anti-coup protest, demonstrators smashed windows and used hammers to break down the church’s door.

Turkey, which once boasted two million Christians, has barely 120,000 remaining, fewer than Iran.

“There’s is an atmosphere in Turkey right now that anyone who isn’t Sunni is a threat to the stability of the nation,” Kabakci said. “Even the educated classes here don’t associate personally with Jews or Christians. It’s more than suspicion. It’s a case of ‘let’s get rid of anyone who isn’t Sunni.’ ”

An Iranian in Istanbul told the Express that “Turkey is like Iran in 1975. I’m sure we will see it become an Islamic Republic very soon.

AgentR11 wrote:Let me suggest a small thing here.

Erdogan is not allied with Saudi Arabia. Turkey intends to supplant Saudi Arabia as the spiritual and political leader of Sunni Islam; essentially making SA a vassal and caretaker of religious sites, a very submissive, obedient caretaker of religious sites.

Newfie wrote:Stalin had Trosky killed.

Just saying.

Whitefang wrote:How about a false flag coup, very succesfull as the ruling mob has total power now. Opponents and media have been taken over. Thousands in one swoop....a great succes.

Besides powers that be are prepping for abrupt CC, last man standing....they want war to wipe out the masses

Broadcaster NTV earlier reported that police raided the offices of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (Tubitak) on Wednesday and detained "many" people.

However, a Tubitak official told Reuters the raid had happened on Sunday, adding he did not have any details about the number of detentions. He declined to comment further.

Tubitak funds science research projects in universities and the private sector and employs more than 1,500 researchers, according to its website.