Turkey coup: Tayyip Erdogan's biggest challenge

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan successfully battled to regain control over Turkey on July 16 after a coup bid by discontented soldiers, as signs grew that the most serious challenge to his 13 years of dominant rule was faltering.

The coup was defeated when citizens poured into the streets in a show of support for Erdogan and faced down the rogue elements in the Army seeking to oust him.

Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag had told NTV television that 70,000 people had been investigated after the attempted putsch on July 15, 32,000 of them remanded in custody.

The authorities blamed Fethullah Gulen, the US-based cleric who is Erdogan`s arch enemy for the plot.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim had described the attempted coup as a "black stain" on Turkey`s democracy.

In August Erdogan 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.

The defeat of the coup prompted a wave of solidarity in Turkey, which had seen governments directly ousted on three occasions by the military since 1960.