Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told a crowd chanting for the death penalty on Saturday that such demands may be discussed in parliament after a coup attempt by a faction in the military killed at least 161 people overnight.

Looking relaxed and smiling, giving an occasional thumbs up to his supporters in Istanbul, Erdogan said the coup attempt had been carried out by a minority in the army.

"The army is ours, not that of the parallel structure. I am chief commander," he said, referring to the network of his arch enemy Fethullah Gulen, a US-based cleric he accuses of fomenting the coup plot and previous attempts to oust him.-Reuters