World

UNITED NATIONS, United States — The United States will back a candidate to be the next UN chief who has great leadership and management skills, Ambassador Samantha Power said Thursday as the Security Council kicked off voting for the next secretary general.

Council ambassadors met behind closed doors for a secret straw poll, the first of several rounds of voting to be held over the next two months to pick a successor to Ban Ki-moon.

"This could not be a more important job and it could not be a more important time to choose the best possible leader for this organisation on which so much depends and so many depend," Power told reporters ahead of the vote.

"We are looking for somebody with great leadership skills, great management skills — someone who has a commitment to fairness and accountability, and who stays true to the founding principles of the United Nations," she added.

There are 12 candidates in the race, six of them women. The bulk of the contenders — eight — are from eastern Europe.

Among the top contenders are Argentina's Foreign Minister Susana Malcorra, Slovenia's ex-president Danilo Turk, New Zealand's ex-prime minister Helen Clark and Antonio Guterres, who served as Portugal's prime minister and headed the UN refugee agency.

Britain's envoy called for a "strong" secretary general to be elected while France stressed language skills, vision and decisiveness as important criteria for the job.

The 15 ambassadors including those from the powerful permanent five — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — are to each rate the candidates with ballots marked "encourage", "discourage" or "no opinion”.

The results of the first round of straw polls will not be announced, but they will be communicated to the governments that have put forward candidates.

High time for a woman

Power said the next UN leader will have "so much to do" from confronting terrorism to combating climate change, advancing the UN's development goals and making sure UN peacekeepers "act on behalf of civilians”.

Council members are facing calls to pick the first woman secretary general after eight men in the job, and to give preference to a candidate from eastern Europe, the only region that has yet to be represented in the top post.

"It is high time for a woman," British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said, but he added that there were "very, very strong men" in the race and that Britain will not use its veto to block a man from winning the post.

For Britain, supporting a candidate from eastern Europe is "the least important criteria here”, he said.

French Ambassador Francois Delattre said the best candidate to become the world's number one diplomat must have "leadership, diplomatic skills and multilingualism”.

"The next secretary general will have to have the skills, decisiveness and vision to lead the organisation in these testing, and troubled times," added Delattre.

The secret vote follows a new, more open process that for the first time in the UN's history provided for hearings to allow candidates to present their pitch for the top job before the General Assembly.

The council is expected to arrive at a consensus on a nominee for the top post probably in October. 

The General Assembly will then be asked to endorse the nominee, who will begin work on January 1.

PARIS — When a Nice airport worker saw a truck thundering past him on the city’s promenade, crushing pedestrians in its path, he did not join the fleeing crowds but instead gave chase on his scooter.

After amateur video footage of a man on a scooter speeding alongside the truck went viral, many thought the heroic figure who tried to stop the July 14 carnage was dead.

The man, however, has been found alive and well with only a few minor injuries by Nice Matin newspaper.

Named only as Franck, he told the newspaper he had been willing to die to stop the rampaging vehicle, which crushed 84 people to death.

He and his wife had planned on watching the Bastille Day fireworks display, but arrived too late and were just heading off on his scooter to grab an ice cream when they realised something was amiss.

“We heard shouting and cars reversing. My wife said ‘stop something is not right’. We saw the crowd running in all directions, as if they were fleeing something. That is when we saw the truck coming,” he told the newspaper.

“He overtook me, driving on the pavement. I can still see the bodies flying everywhere. I immediately understood. I decided to accelerate. My wife pulled my arm and asked me where I was going. I stopped, told her to get off, and accelerated as fast as I could.” 

Franck, who is in his fifties, said he was “in a trance, but lucid” as he raced after the truck, which was zigzagging between the road and the sidewalk, mowing down people in its path.

When he caught up with attacker Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, Franck said he decided to launch his scooter at the vehicle, fell and then ran after the truck.

Video footage shows the scooter falling alongside the truck, with the driver running after it and grabbing onto the door of the cab, before falling out of view.

“I didn’t know what I was doing, I managed to hang on to the door,” he said.

Pistol-whipped 

The driver’s window was open and Franck, who was standing on the step used it to climb into the truck, found himself face-to-face with Bouhlel.

“I hit him again and again, with all my force,” he claimed.

Franck said Bouhlel grabbed his pistol and aimed it at him, but that it didn’t appear to work.

Bouhlel later used the pistol to shoot at police in an exchange of fire in which he was killed.

“I was ready to die to stop him. He hit me with the butt of the gun and I fell off the step,” he said.

Franck escaped with a broken rib and several smaller injuries. 

He was not the only one to try and stop the carnage. A cyclist named Alexandre also at one point caught onto the handle of the door, only letting go after finding himself staring down the barrel of Bouhlel’s gun.

ANKARA — Cracking down on alleged subversives in education, Turkey said Wednesday that it will close more than 600 private schools and dormitories following an attempted coup, spurring fears that the state's move against perceived enemies is throwing key institutions in the NATO ally into disarray.

The government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said it has fired nearly 22,000 education ministry workers, mostly teachers, taken steps to revoke the licenses of 21,000 other teachers at private schools and sacked or detained half a dozen university presidents in a campaign to root out alleged supporters of a US-based Muslim cleric blamed for the botched insurrection on Friday.

The targeting of education ties in with Erdogan's belief that the cleric, Fethullah Gulen, whose followers run a worldwide network of schools, seeks to infiltrate the Turkish education system and other institutions in order to bend the country to his will. The cleric's movement, which espouses moderation and multifaith harmony, says it is a scapegoat for what it describes as the president's increasingly autocratic conduct.

While Erdogan is seeking to consolidate the power of his elected government in the wake of the attempt to oust him, his crackdown could further polarise a country that once enjoyed a reputation for relative stability in the turbulent Mideast region. It also raises questions about the effectiveness of the military, courts and other institutions that are now being purged.

“The fact that so many judges have been detained, never mind the workload at the courthouses, will render them inoperable,” said Vildan Yirmibesoglu, a human rights lawyer. “How they will fill the vacancies, I don’t know.”

The education ministry said it decided to close 626 private schools and other establishments that are under investigation for “crimes against the constitutional order and the running of that order”, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.

The agency said the schools are linked to Gulen, a former ally of Erdogan who lives in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania and has denied accusations that he engineered the coup attempt that was quashed by security forces and protesters loyal to the government.

Turkey has repeatedly named Gulen as the instigator of its turmoil and demands his extradition from the United States, which has said any such process must follow the law. The two allies cooperate in the US-led war against the Daesh group, with American military planes flying missions from Turkey’s Incirlik Air Base into neighbouring Iraq and Syria.

Turkey’s domestic situation is increasingly a concern as the government seeks to rid broad sectors of society of alleged antagonists. Huseyin Ozev, an education union leader in Istanbul, said state education workers who were reported to have been fired had not received notices and that employees were “waiting at home or on vacation, anxiously”, to see if they had lost their jobs.

Any workers suspected of wrongdoing should undergo a formal investigation and the fight against coup plotters “should not be turned into a witch hunt”, Ozev said.

In other moves against education, Turkey demanded the resignations of 1,577 university deans and halted foreign assignments for state-employed academics. A total of 50,000 civil service employees have been fired in the purges, which have reached Turkey’s national intelligence service and the prime minister’s office.

Erdogan held an emergency meeting of Cabinet ministers and security advisers late Wednesday. The president, who has said he narrowly escaped being killed or captured by renegade military units, previously declared that an “important decision” would be announced after the meeting.

The government has also revoked the press credentials of 34 journalists because of alleged ties to Gulen’s movement, Turkish media reported. A satirical magazine, Leman, said authorities blocked the distribution of a special edition over its cover featuring a caricature in which two mysterious hands play a game of strategy, one pushing soldiers onto the board and the other responding by sending civilians.

Authorities have rounded up close to 9,000 people — including 115 generals, 350 officers and some 4,800 other military personnel — for alleged involvement in the coup attempt. Turkey’s defense ministry has also sacked at least 262 military court judges and prosecutors, according to Turkish media reports.

The coup has led to public anger and calls for the government to reinstate the death penalty, a demand that Erdogan has said he will consider.

Hasan Ay, a municipal worker in Istanbul, said he wanted coup ringleaders to be executed.

“I am not talking about the private soldiers. They said on television that some of the privates were innocent,” Ay said.

The instability is hurting confidence in the Turkish economy. The Turkish currency dropped 1.8 per cent against the US dollar Wednesday, trading at a low for the year of just over 3 lira to the dollar.

Officials have raised the death toll from the violence surrounding the coup attempt to 240 government supporters. At least 24 coup plotters were also killed.

The purges against suspected Gulen supporters follow earlier aggressive moves by Erdogan’s administration against Gulen loyalists in the government, police and judiciary following corruption probes targeting Erdogan associates and family members in late 2013 — prosecutions the government says were orchestrated by Gulen.

CLEVELAND — Republicans formally chose Donald Trump as the party's presidential nominee on Tuesday, a landmark moment in American politics and a stunning victory for a man whose White House ambitions were once openly mocked.

After a turbulent campaign that saw Trump defeat 16 rivals and steamroller stubborn party opposition, the tycoon said it was time to "go all the way" and beat Democrat Hillary Clinton in November.

"This is a movement," he told the delegates via video link.

On the convention floor, states from Alabama to West Virginia took it in turns to pledge their delegates.

It fell to Trump's home state of New York, represented by a coterie of the candidate's adult children, to hand him the majority-plus-one needed to clinch the nomination.

"It's my honour to be able to throw Donald Trump over the top in the delegation count tonight," Donald Trump Jr said to cheers and applause.

When the bombastic mogul came down the escalators of Trump Towers in New York 13 months ago to announce his candidacy, few experts gave him even the faintest chance.

His campaign has defied political norms — embracing racially inflammatory policies, offending key voting blocks, eschewing big-spending advertising campaigns and relying on saturated media coverage above campaign structure.

"It's unbelievable. It's surreal. I'm so proud of my father," said Trump's eldest daughter and businesswoman Ivanka Trump, often described as his secret weapon.

"He's the ultimate outsider and he did it. We are so proud of him." 

Closing ranks 

Trump became the presumptive nominee nearly two months ago. But relentless controversy over his campaign rhetoric and a simmering movement by anti-Trump delegates to deny him the nomination made it less than a foregone conclusion.

Around the convention floor, Trump's victory was far from universally welcomed.

Many delegates clapped politely after his victory, a few angrily walked out or voiced their unease. 

Several states refused to honour party convention and pledge their delegates to a frontrunner who was by then unopposed.

“I'm disappointed” said Utah Senator Mike Lee. “But it is what it is.” 

Washington delegate Teri Galvez said boldly: “We do not support Donald Trump.” 

The main enemy 

But as the last vestiges of Republican resistance were quashed, there were fresh signs that the party establishment had thrown its lot in with Trump in a bid to beat Clinton.

New Jersey governor Chris Christie led delegates in declaring Clinton "guilty" and encouraged visceral chants of "lock her up".

The Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan declared "the Obama years are almost over. The Clinton years are way over. Two-thousand sixteen is the year America moves on." 

The Trump campaign will hope that disdain for Clinton will unite the party and make a series of missteps irrelevant.

"The party is unified, we're all here, I will bet you, if you polled this place, there is not one vote for Hillary Clinton in this building," key Trump lieutenant Corey Lewandowski told AFP.

"People are ready for a fundamental and unequivocal change in Washington and the person who is going to bring that is Donald Trump." 

Before Trump emerged victorious, it had been a brutal week for the candidate.

His glamorous wife Melania Trump brought some pizzazz to the proceedings on the opening night.

But an embarrassing plagiarism scandal tarnished her prime-time speech — and brought her husband's presidential campaign under withering scrutiny.

Donald Trump Jr, the candidates' eldest son, was saved from a replay of that when similarities were noted between phrases in his keynote Tuesday night and an article in a conservative publication.

The author of the May 2 article in American Conservative, FH Buckley, quickly stepped forward to say he had been a principal speechwriter for the Trump keynoter. "So it's not an issue," he told Time.com. 

Earlier delegates exchanged jeers and heckles as anti-Trump forces tried in vain to thwart his nomination.

Again on Tuesday it fell to Trump's kin to reshape his public image.

Donald Trump Jr made a sweeping speech peppered with personal anecdotes that humanised his father.

The married father of five touched on themes of economic inequality, job creation, promised healthcare for "our most vulnerable citizens" and to improve public education.

Clinton wasted no time seeking to capitalise on Trump's party victory.

"Donald Trump just became the Republican nominee. Chip in now to make sure he never steps foot in the Oval Office," she said in a fundraising tweet.

ANKARA — 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.

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."

AMMAN — Turkey's Grand National Assembly condemned the attempted coup on Friday in a joint declaration, a copy of which was made available to The Jordan Times on Wednesday.  

"We, the Justice and Development Party, Republican People's Party, Peoples' Democratic Party and Nationalist Movement Party, condemn in the strongest terms the attempted coup d'etat against our beloved nation, the national will, our State [particularly against members of parliament representing the national will], the Veteran Assembly; and we condemn the attacks against the Assembly which began on the night of 15 July and were quashed by the morning of 16 July," the declaration said.

"Our nation stood against and thwarted this bloody coup attempt in a way which set an example to the whole world. This beloved nation, which protected the Republic of Turkey and its institutions at the cost of its life, deserves every praise and appreciation. We, the whole nation, are grateful to the martyrs who gave their lives for this cause and we will never forget these heroes.

"The Grand National Assembly of Turkey [GNAT], in its capacity as the representative of this beloved and brave nation and acting with the authority given to it by the nation, fulfilled its duty under attack from bombs and bullets, and demonstrated, once again, that it is a parliament worthy of the nation."

The GNAT will continue to reflect the nation's unwavering belief in democracy, said the declaration

ISTANBUL/ANKARA — Turkey vowed to root out allies of the US-based cleric it blames for an abortive coup last week, widening a purge of the army, police and judiciary on Tuesday to universities and schools, the intelligence agency and religious authorities.

Around 50,000 soldiers, police, judges, civil servants and teachers have been suspended or detained since the coup attempt, stirring tensions across the country of 80 million which borders Syria's chaos and is a Western ally against the Daesh terror group.

"This parallel terrorist organisation will no longer be an effective pawn for any country," Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said, referring to what the government has long alleged is a state within a state controlled by followers of Fethullah Gulen.

"We will dig them up by their roots," he told parliament.

A spokesman for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the government was preparing a formal request to the United States for the extradition of Gulen, who Turkey says orchestrated the failed military takeover on Friday in which at least 232 people were killed.

US President Barack Obama discussed the status of Gulen in a telephone call with Erdogan on Tuesday, the White House said, urging Ankara to show restraint as it pursues those responsible for the coup attempt.

Seventy-five-year-old Gulen, who lives in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania but has a network of supporters within Turkey, has condemned the attempt and denied any role in it.

A former ally-turned critic of Erdogan, he suggested the president staged it as an excuse for a crackdown after a steady accumulation of control during 14 years in power.

On Tuesday, authorities shut down media outlets deemed to be supportive of the cleric and said 15,000 people had been fired from the education ministry, 492 from the Religious Affairs Directorate, 257 from the prime minister’s office and 100 intelligence officials.

The lira weakened to beyond 3 to the dollar after state broadcaster TRT said all university deans had been ordered to resign, recalling the sorts of broad purges seen in the wake of successful military coups of the past.

In a sign of international concern, a German official said a serious fissure had opened in Turkey and he feared fighting would break out within Germany’s large Turkish community.

“A deep split is emerging in Turkish society,” Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann told the Berliner Zeitung newspaper. “The danger of an escalation in violence between Erdogan supporters and opponents has also risen in Germany.”

‘Double standards’

Turkey’s Western allies have expressed solidarity with the government over the coup attempt but also alarm at the scale and swiftness of the response, urging it to adhere to democratic values.

Prime Minister Yildirim accused Washington, which has said it will consider Gulen’s extradition only if clear evidence is provided, of double standards in its fight against terrorism.

Yildirim said the justice ministry had sent a dossier to US authorities on Gulen, whose religious movement blends conservative Islamic values with a pro-Western outlook and who has a network of supporters within Turkey.

“We have more than enough evidence, more than you could ask for, on Gulen,” Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag told reporters outside parliament. “There is no need to prove the coup attempt, all evidence shows that the coup attempt was organised on his will and orders.”

White House spokesman Josh Earnest confirmed Ankara had filed materials in electronic form with the US government, which officials were reviewing. Any extradition request from Turkey, once submitted, would be evaluated under the terms of a treaty between the two countries, he added.

Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus told reporters that 9,322 people were under legal proceedings in relation to the attempted coup.

Eight soldiers have sought asylum in neighbouring Greece and Turkey says they must be handed back or it will not help relations between the neighbours, which have long been uneasy.

Around 1,400 people were wounded as soldiers commandeered tanks, attack helicopters and warplanes, strafing parliament and the intelligence headquarters, and trying to seize the main airport and bridges in Istanbul.

The army general staff said it would punish “in the most severe way” any members of the armed forces responsible for what it called “this disgrace”, adding that most had nothing to do with the coup.

Death penalty centre stage

Some Western leaders expressed concern that Erdogan, who said he was almost killed or captured by the mutineers, was using the opportunity to consolidate power and further a process of stifling dissent.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, HH Prince Zeid, voiced “serious alarm” on Tuesday at the mass suspension of judges and prosecutors, and urged Turkey to allow independent monitors to visit those who have been detained.

The foreign ministry has said criticism of the government’s response amounts to backing the coup.

Turkey scrapped capital punishment in 2004 as part of its push to join the European Union, and European leaders have warned Ankara that restoring it would derail its EU aspirations.

But in the aftermath of the coup, Erdogan has repeatedly called for parliament to consider his supporters’ demands to apply the death penalty for the plotters.

Yildirim said Turkey would respect the rule of law and not be driven by revenge in prosecuting suspected coup plotters. Speaking alongside the leader of the main secularist opposition Republican People’s Party, he said the country must avoid the risk that some people try to exploit the current situation.

“We need unity... and brotherhood now,” he said.

The Nationalist Movement Party, a right-wing grouping and the smallest of the three opposition parties represented in parliament, said it would back the government if it decides to restore the death penalty.

More than 6,000 soldiers and around 1,500 others have been detained since the abortive coup. About 8,000 police officers, including in the capital Ankara and the biggest city Istanbul, have been removed on suspicion of links to the plot.

Some 1,500 finance ministry officials have also been removed from their posts. Annual leave has been suspended for more than three million civil servants, while close to 3,000 judges and prosecutors have also been purged. A court remanded 26 generals and admirals in custody on Monday, Turkish media said.

Ex-air force chief accused

Officials in Ankara say former air force chief Akin Ozturk, who has appeared in detention with his face and arms bruised and one ear bandaged, was a co-leader of the coup. Turkish media said on Monday he had denied this to prosecutors, saying he had tried to prevent the attempted putsch.

The coup crumbled after Erdogan, on holiday with his family at the coastal resort of Marmaris, phoned in to a television news programme and called for his followers to take to the streets. He was able to fly into Istanbul in the early hours of Saturday, after the rebel pilots had his plane in their sights but did not shoot it down.

He said on Monday he might have died if he had left Marmaris any later and that two of his bodyguards had been killed.

The bloodshed shocked the nation, where the army last used force to stage a successful coup more than 30 years ago, and shattered fragile confidence in the stability of a NATO member state already rocked by Daesh suicide bombings and an insurgency by Kurdish militants.

Since the coup was put down, Erdogan has said enemies of the state still threatened the nation and has urged Turks to take to the streets every night until Friday to show support for the government.

MANILA — The Philippines has turned down a Chinese proposal to start bilateral talks on their South China Sea dispute, its foreign minister said on Tuesday, because of Beijing's pre-condition of not discussing a court ruling that nullified most of its claims.

China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion of trade moves annually. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have rival claims.

Perfecto Yasay said he had met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the sidelines of a meeting of Asian and European leaders in Mongolia at the weekend and after raising the topic of last week's ruling, it became clear that was a no-go area.

China's foreign ministry said in a statement Tuesday night that the two ministers had "informal contact" in Mongolia.

Wang said if the Philippines was willing to resume talks, manage divisions and improve relations, China would meet it halfway, according to the statement.

China has angrily rejected the verdict by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague and the initial case as illegal and farcical. It has repeatedly said it will not change its approach or its sovereignty claims in the South China Sea.

"They said if you will insist on the ruling, discussing it along those lines, then we might be headed for a confrontation," Yasay said during an interview with the news channel of broadcaster ABS-CBN.

"But I really honestly feel that this is something they have to make on a public basis but I also sensed there was room for us to talk very quietly using backdoor channelling." 

Yasay said Wang had proposed bilateral talks but only on issues "outside, or [in] disregard of, the arbitral ruling", which he declined because it was not in the Philippines' national interests.

The Chinese foreign ministry's account of Wang's remarks struck a more conciliatory tone and did not mention pre-conditions.

"Promoting a return to dialogue in China-Philippine relations is in the fundamental interests of the two countries and their people," the statement said Wang emphasised.

Yasay's account of the meeting highlights the challenge ahead for the Philippines, a US ally, in getting China to comply with the decision which has ramped up tensions in the vital trade route.

The ruling laid out what maritime rights Manila had and where Beijing had violated its rights under international law, including its massive construction works on Mischief Reef.

Manila wanted to enforce the points of the complex ruling step-by-step but as a priority had asked China to let its fishermen go to the contested Scarborough Shoal without being harassed by its coastguard, Yasay said.

China's coastguard was preventing Filipino boats from fishing around Scarborough Shoal, fishermen and officials said on Friday, and China's air force has released pictures showing bombers recently flying over the area.

SYDNEY — Vice President Joe Biden met with Australia's prime minister and other leaders on Tuesday, as he reasserted America's push to boost its presence in the Asia-Pacific region and maintain its status as a "Pacific power". 

Biden, who is in Australia as part of a tour of the Pacific, also met with troops aboard an Australian navy ship, where he shook hands with veterans of Middle East conflicts and thanked Australia for being a close military ally.

Biden's visit comes five years after President Barack Obama announced that US Marines would begin rotating through the Australian port city of Darwin as part of the US military pivot to Asia.

"Thank you for having America's back and we will always have your back," Biden told the troops gathered on the flight deck of the HMAS Adelaide. "We are a Pacific power, we are here to stay, and thank God we have you to lead us and to be with us." 

Both leaders also spoke of the need to ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership, with Turnbull saying he had no doubt the "Biden touch" would help get the pact through Congress.

The vice president repeatedly mentioned the importance of the US maintaining its presence in the Pacific, saying he believed the US, along with Australia, had provided stability throughout the region that has allowed countries such as China, South Korea and Japan to grow.

"The United States is here in the Pacific to stay," Biden told reporters. "We are a Pacific nation, we are a Pacific power, and we will do our part to maintain peace and stability in our region."

ISTANBUL/ANKARA — Turkey purged its police on Monday after rounding up thousands of soldiers in the wake of a failed military coup, and said it could reconsider its friendship with the United States unless Washington hands over a cleric Ankara blames for the putsch.

Nearly 20,000 members of the police, civil service, judiciary and army have been detained or suspended since Friday night's coup, in which more than 200 people were killed when a faction of the armed forces tried to seize power.

The broad crackdown and calls to reinstate the death penalty for plotters drew concern from Western allies who said Ankara must uphold the rule of law in the country, a NATO member that is Washington's most powerful Muslim ally.

Some voiced concern President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was using the opportunity to consolidate his power and further a process of stifling dissent which has already caused tensions with Europe.

Turkey's foreign minister said criticism of the government's response amounted to backing for the bid to overthrow it.

A senior security official told Reuters that 8,000 police officers, including in the capital Ankara and the biggest city Istanbul, had been removed from their posts on suspicion of links to Friday's abortive coup.

About 1,500 finance ministry officials had been suspended, a ministry official said, and CNN Turk said 30 governors and more than 50 high-ranking civil servants had been dismissed. Annual leave was suspended for more than 3 million civil servants, while close to 3,000 judges and prosecutors have been suspended.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said 7,543 people had so far been detained, including 6,038 soldiers. Some were shown in photographs stripped to their underpants and handcuffed on the floors of police buses and a sports hall. A court remanded 26 generals and admirals in custody on Monday, Turkish media said.

Officials in Ankara say former air force chief Akin Ozturk was a co-leader of the coup. The state-run Anadolu agency said on Monday he had confessed, but private broadcaster Haberturk contradicted this, saying he had told prosecutors he tried to prevent the attempted putsch.

The Turkish government says it was masterminded by Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric based in the United States who has a wide following in Turkey. He denies any involvement.

Ankara has demanded Washington hand Gulen over. Washington says it is prepared to extradite him but only if Turkey provides evidence linking him to crime. Yildirim rejected that demand.

“We would be disappointed if our [American] friends told us to present proof even though members of the assassin organisation are trying to destroy an elected government under the directions of that person,” Yildirim said.

“At this stage there could even be a questioning of our friendship,” Yildirim added.

Yildirim said 232 people were killed in Friday night’s violence, 208 of them civilians, police and loyalist soldiers, and a further 24 coup plotters. Officials previously said the overall death toll was more than 290.

Erdogan’s plane in rebel sights

Around 1,400 others were wounded as soldiers commandeered tanks, attack helicopters and warplanes in their bid to seize power, strafing parliament and the intelligence headquarters, and trying to seize the main airport and bridges in Istanbul.

The coup crumbled after Erdogan, on holiday at the coast, phoned in to a television news programme and called for his followers to take to the streets. He was able to fly into Istanbul in the early hours of Saturday, after rebel pilots had his plane in their sights but did not shoot it down.

On Sunday, he told supporters that parliament must consider their demands to apply the death penalty for the plotters.

“In democracies, whatever the people say has to happen,” he told a chanting crowd at his house in Istanbul late on Sunday, telling Turks to take to the streets every evening until Friday.

It would be up to parliament to decide on the death penalty, he told international broadcaster CNN international on Monday, and he would approve any decision it made.

Turkey gave up the death penalty in 2004 as part of a programme of reforms required to become a candidate to join the EU. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said reinstating it would “in no way” be compatible with Turkey’s goal of EU membership.

The bloodshed shocked the nation of almost 80 million, where the army last used force to stage a successful coup more than 30 years ago, and shattered fragile confidence in the stability of a NATO member state already rocked by Daesh suicide bombings and an insurgency by Kurdish militants.

Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek said there had been periodic intelligence about a grouping within the military that could attempt “some sort of an uprising” and that the plan had been to remove them at an August meeting of the High Military Council (YAS), the top body overseeing the armed forces.

“The plan was to remove an important part of these people, the ones who were identified, during YAS meetings. They probably attempted this uprising to prevent this,” he told Kanal 7 TV.

Western countries said they supported Erdogan’s government but Ankara should abide by the rule of law.

“We stand squarely on the side of the elected leadership in Turkey. But we also firmly urge the government of Turkey to maintain calm and stability throughout the country,” US Secretary of State Kerry told a news briefing in Brussels where he attended a gathering of European counterparts.

“We will certainly support bringing the perpetrators of the coup to justice but we also caution against a reach that goes well beyond that.”

Referring to Gulen, Kerry called on Turkey to furnish evidence “that withstands scrutiny”, rather than allegations.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini also called on Ankara to avoid steps that would damage the constitutional order.

Turkey’s pro-Kurdish HDP opposition, parliament’s third largest party, said it would not support any government proposal to reintroduce the death penalty. The main CHP opposition said the response to the coup attempt must be conducted within the rule of law and that the plotters should face trial.

‘Heavy blow’ to military

Turkish security forces are still searching for some of the soldiers involved in the coup bid in various cities and rural areas but there is no risk of a renewed bid to seize power, a senior security official told Reuters.

The official said Turkey’s military command had been dealt “a heavy blow in terms of organisation” but was still functioning in coordination with the intelligence agency, police and the government. Some high-ranking military officials involved in the plot have fled abroad, he said.

Erdogan has long accused Gulen of trying to create a “parallel state” within the courts, police, armed forces and media. Gulen, in turn, has said the coup attempt may have been staged, casting it as an excuse for Erdogan to forge ahead with his purge of the cleric’s supporters from state institutions.

The swift rounding up of judges and others indicated the government had prepared a list beforehand, the EU commissioner dealing with Turkey’s membership bid, Johannes Hahn, said.

“I’m very concerned. It is exactly what we feared,” he said in Brussels. Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu described Hahn’s comments as “unacceptable”.