No official estimate has been provided, but Turkish media said millions had gathered for the rally.
Religious leaders and two of Turkey’s three opposition parties were attending, sitting next to the president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who arrived in a helicopter with his wife, Emine. The pro-Kurdish People’s Democracy party, or HDP, was not invited. [...]
Erdoğan told the rally he would approve the death penalty if parliament voted for it, following the failed coup. In his speech he said the network of US-based cleric Fethullah Gülen, who he blames for the coup attempt, must be destroyed within the framework of the law.
A 60-metre (200ft) stage was flanked by two platforms and draped with massive national flags and banners depicting Erdoğan and Turkey’s founding father, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. A roll call of those who died opposing the coup was read out as the event began. [...]
The government has launched a sweeping crackdown in the coup’s aftermath, targeting followers of Gülen’s movement. Nearly 18,000 people have been detained or arrested, mostly in the military, and tens of thousands of people have been suspended or dismissed from jobs in the judiciary, media, education, healthcare, military and local government.
The scope of the crackdown has alarmed European countries and rights groups, who have urged restraint. Erdoğan has lashed out at such criticism, and complained of a lack of support from the west for his government to survive the coup.
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