Turkey will overcome 'pains' after coup attempt: Gul

By Ali Hakan Der

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's former president, Abdullah Gul, said Thursday the country would overcome "pains" caused by Friday’s failed coup and "return to its old days".

"Anything could have come to mind, but no one can imagine such a thing," Gul said, referring to the deadly coup attempt, which killed at least 246 people and injured more than 1,530 others.

"Assassinations, street clashes, some rebellions...but no one [could] imagine that the parliament was bombed," Gul told reporters during his visit to the parliament," and described the coup attempt as "dark stain".

The former president also welcomed what he called "constructive dialogue" between all major political parties in the Turkish parliament.

Turkish parliament ratified Thursday a motion on a three-month state of emergency across the country following the failed coup aimed to oust country's democratically elected government.

The government has said the attempted coup was organized by followers of U.S.-based cleric Fetullah Gulen, who is accused of a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through infiltrating into Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary, forming a ‘parallel state’.

*Diyar Guldogan contributed to this report from Ankara.