The 10-storey police headquarters in Ankara, meant to be a symbol of might and order, is now a wreck, gutted by a successive air raids during the night of Turkey's failed coup.

"I do not know how long the rebuilding will take. But we have started," a senior Turkish police official told AFP at the scene, surveying the extent of the damage.

The coup plotters, who sought to oust President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from power overnight Friday, targeted above all key institutions in the capital including this police headquarters, the parliament and the presidency itself.

The damage from these aerial attacks has been considerable to buildings that Turks consider sometimes ominous symbols of the state's power.

The coup plotters seized F-16 fighter jets and attack helicopters from air bases and then flew them above the capital, terrifying residents.

The facade of the police headquarters is now a distorted wreck while the ground in front is covered in broken glass which scrunches like icy snow underfoot.

Even the big letters of its official name have been hit. Some have fallen off while others hang precipitously, threatening to follow.

The air is still thick with dust from the rubble, making breathing uncomfortable.

The ground floor department used to handle thousands of people a day, handing out passports where computers and desks now sit forlornly in the ruins.

Upstairs the scene is even worse with office walls blown out. Pictures of modern Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk stare down from remaining walls as if the country's greatest hero was appalled by the damage.

"We were under attack from helicopters and F-16s. Especially after midnight, the intensity increased," said the police official, who asked not to be identified.

"They would take a break, but then come back and with even more intensity."

- 'Hands tied up' -

In Golbasi, outside Ankara, 42 people were killed in two strikes by the rebel plotters on a special forces headquarters, in what appears to have been the deadliest single incident of the coup night.

One air attack hit the guard house where a security scanner still stands uselessly in the rubble.

Another struck the roof of the main building, blowing out the exterior walls and exposing the dormitory with the beds pillows and mattresses still in place as they were when the deadly strike hit.

Police stand guard outside the wrecked shell of the building as weeping relatives of victims try to come to terms with the devastation.

A different kind of trauma was experienced at the headquarters of state broadcaster TRT, stormed by the coup plotters who forced a news anchor to read a message declaring they had taken control.

"The staff had their hands tied behind their backs and were forced to the ground," said deputy head of news Kudret Dogandemir. "While at the same time F-16s flew low overhead."

Within days, normal routine has resumed in the same studio where the now infamous coup statement was read, with the newscaster, during a visit by AFP, presenting a feature on how the coup was defeated.

- 'Aim was to kill' -

But perhaps the most symbolic target of all was Turkey's parliament, where deputies gathered after the coup attempt began to send a message through the media that the putsch would be defeated.

Irfan Neziroglu, the general secretary of the parliament, said he had immediately rushed to the parliament building with other deputies when he heard the news of the coup.

"During this time the F-16s were flying very low. It was an unbelievable panic."

He said parliament was bombed three times by F-16s seized by the coup plotters and also hit by 10 noise bombs.

In what was once a pleasant atrium, cacti and ornamental ponds now lie in a bed of shards of glass. Walls have collapsed and plaster blown out.

Most of the windows in the parliament's vast imposing facade have been shattered and its massive golden doors forced off their hinges.

Yet two soldiers still maintain a ceremonial guard, standing stock-still in glass sentry boxes as if frozen in time.

"If one bomb had deviated by a few centimetres then all of us here in parliament would not be here today," said Neziroglu.

"The aim was to kill."

Turkey presses post-coup purge with over 7,000 arrests
Istanbul (AFP) July 19, 2016 - The Turkish government is expected to continue its crack down on suspected putschists Tuesday, while the US-based Muslim cleric accused by Ankara of orchestrating the coup attempt says he doesn't fear extradition.

Turkey has so far detained over 7,500 people and sacked almost 9,000 officials in its relentless purge of suspected plotters with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowing to wipe out the "virus".

Erdogan has blamed his arch-foe Fethullah Gulen, a moderate Turkish preacher living in the US, for being behind the attempted power grab that left more than 300 people dead, and has demanded that Washington extradite him.

But the 75-year-old categorically denies any involvement in the plot and has suggested it could have been staged by Erdogan himself.

"I have no concerns personally," Gulen said in an interview with several media outlets including AFP in the Pennsylvania town of Saylorsburg he has called home since 1999 under self-imposed exile.

The United States "is a country of law," he said. "I don't believe this government will pay attention to anything that is not legally sound."

US Secretary of State John Kerry has said Ankara would need to provide "evidence, not allegations" against Gulen.

The preacher's followers have a powerful presence in Turkish society, including the media, police and judiciary, and Erdogan has long accused him of running a "parallel state" in Turkey.

In remarks that have sparked concern among Western allies, Erdogan has said Turkey could bring back the death penalty for the coup plotters.

"There is a clear crime of treason," Erdogan told CNN in his first media interview since the chaotic events of Friday night.

"The leaders will have to come together and discuss it. If they accept to discuss it, as the president, I will approve any decision to come out of the parliament."

- Spate of arrests -

On Monday former air force chief General Akin Ozturk appeared in court, looking haggard and with an ear bandaged, and denied leading the failed coup.

"I am not the person who planned or led the coup. Who planned it and directed it I do not know," state-run news agency Anadolu quoted him as saying in his statement to prosecutors.

General Mehmet Disli, who conducted the operation to capture chief-of-staff Hulusi Akar during the coup, has also been detained.

With Turkey's big cities still on edge, Turkish security forces killed an armed attacker who shot at them from a vehicle outside the Ankara courthouse where suspected coup plotters were appearing before judges.

In another development, police on Monday detained seven soldiers after searching the key Incirlik air base in southern Turkey used by the US for air raids on IS jihadists, Anadolu reported.

Early Monday, special Istanbul anti-terror police units raided the prestigious air force military academy, detaining four suspects, Anadolu reported.

Two Turkish pilots who played a role in the downing of a Russian plane in November are also among those in custody.

A Greek court will Thursday decide the fate of eight Turkish military officers who fled across the border by helicopter after the coup, with Ankara seeking their extradition.

Meanwhile, Erdogan has urged citizens to remain on the streets even after the defeat of the coup attempt, in what the authorities describe as a "vigil" for democracy.

- 'Caprice and revenge' -

Western leaders have pushed Turkey to follow the rule of law as the massive retaliatory purge adds to existing concerns about human rights and democracy in the strategic NATO country.

"We also urge the government of Turkey to uphold the highest standards of respect for the nation's democratic institutions," US Secretary of State John Kerry said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman denounced "revolting scenes of caprice and revenge against soldiers on the streets" after disturbing pictures emerged of the treatment of some detained suspects.

The Council of Europe also joined the criticism, with its panel of constitutional experts saying: "Arrests and mass sackings of judges are not an acceptable way of restoring democracy."

EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini responded bluntly to the suggestion the death penalty -- which Turkey abolished in 2004 as part of its long-running efforts to join the EU -- could be reinstated.

"Let me be very clear," she said. "No country can become an EU state if it introduces the death penalty."

Separately the turbulence has raised concerns about the stability of Turkey, which is part of the international coalition fighting Islamic State jihadists in Syria.

It has also hit financial markets, with the lira at one point losing five percent in value against the dollar although it rallied slightly Monday, while Sovereign debt rater Moody's said it was reviewing Turkey's credit rating for a possible downgrade.