Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/712794
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 17 JULY 2016 News 3 20:30 (CET) Reports that two major bridges over the Bosphorus in Istanbul are closed, causing major traffic congestion. Army units are seen moving through the city. Images circulate on social media of cars and buses backed up on roads in the city and troops deployed on the Bosphorus Bridge and Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge. 20:50 Fighter jets and helicopters are reported in the sky over the capital, Ankara. Helicopters seen over Istanbul. Reports of gunfire in Ankara. 21:00 Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim announces that unsanctioned "military activity" is under way. He calls for calm and says government forces will "do what is necessary" to restore order. 22:00 The chief-of-staff of the Turkish military is among hostages held by coup plotters in Ankara, state-run news agency Anadolu reports. A correspondent with Turkish state broadcaster TRT tells the Reuters news agency that troops have stormed the station. 22:15 Statement read on state-owned TRT says military has "completely taken over the administration of the country to reinstate constitutional order". A new constitution is to be prepared. The statement accuses the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of eroding democracy. A curfew is announced and martial law is to be imposed across the country. The TRT news anchor who read out the statement will later say that she was forced at gunpoint to make the announcement. 22:30 President Erdogan urges the public to take to the streets to protest against the coup. "We will overcome this," Erdogan says in a video call to a mobile phone held up to a camera by a CNN Turk presenter. The coup plotters will pay a heavy price, he says. 23:00 Witnesses report that a military helicopter opened fire over Ankara and tanks are deployed at parliament buildings in the city. Explosions are reported and a member of parliament says people are sheltering inside the building. Turkish justice minister says loyalists of US- based preacher Fethullah Gulen are behind the attempted coup. 00:00 Turkish fighter jet is reported to have shot down a military helicopter used by coup plotters over Ankara. Anadolu news agency reports that 17 police officers killed. 00:50 Explosions heard in Istanbul. Prime Minister Yildirim says situation under control in the country, and blames supporters of the exiled preacher, Gulen. A US-based organisation linked to Gulen denies any involvement. 01:20 Erdogan arrives in Istanbul's Ataturk Airport. Speaking to a crowd of supporters outside the airport, the president says the plotters "have pointed the people's guns against the people" and their attempt to seize power will fail. 01:30 Reports of more explosions at parliament buildings in Ankara while troops are reported to have started to surrender in locations in Istanbul. Turkish Interior Minister Efkan Ala says the coup attempt has been "neutralised". 01:45 Soldiers surrender weapons in Istanbul's central Taksim Square after being surrounded by armed police units loyal to the government. 03:00 The president's office says at least 60 people killed and around 130 anti- government forces arrested. Daybreak Images are broadcast of scores of troops with arms raised surrendering on a bridge in Istanbul. The government says more than 700 have been arrested and the coup attempt has failed. Coup attempt timeline CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 "FAILURE to reach an agreement with the pilots will lead to a breakdown in talks with Alitalia," said a sen- ior government official who is close to the negotiating team being led by George Abela, President emeritus. The airline is fending off demands to raise pi- lots' salaries, which range from €65,000 to well over €106,000 for a flight captain, but who, unlike Euro- pean airline standards, fly an average of just 56 hours a month. That is far less than the maximum 900 hours per calendar year set by the European Aviation Safety Agency. The annual salary bill is close to €10 million, the source said. "These are short-haul pilots, with a good salary, who traditionally do not work anything close to the maxi- mum 100 hours in 28 days," the source said, echoing complaints by Air Malta's former CEO, Peter Davies, who said ALPA pilots treated Air Malta as their 'pri- vate flying club'. "Air Malta cannot be held to ransom by the pilots anymore. There are too many for the routes we serve, none of the routes is long-haul, and all the pilots sleep at their homes at the end of a flight. Individually, many pilots have the time to set up thriving businesses on the side. Alitalia will not proceed if we do not come to terms with these realities." Air Malta's leverage in the talks with Alitalia is pres- ently limited by its own role as a national airline that serves Malta and its main tourism markets in Europe. While this is crucial to Malta's tourism industry, which generates one in seven jobs for the island, crit- ics fear Alitalia wants to turn the airline into a feeder airline. The national airline's main bargaining chip is wide- ly believed to be the unique potential of its London Heathrow slots, which it has held since the 1970s. These allow it the edge over low-cost airlines like Ry- anair, which are another main transport provider for the UK market. The Malta Tourism Authority spends some €7 mil- lion every year from its government subvention into so called 'route development schemes', payments to airlines – like Ryanair, amongst others – which fly un- der-served routes and secondary airports. It translates into a discounted landing fee for such airlines. Yesterday the Airline Pilots Association (ALPA) de- plored a court application filed by Air Malta to stop the union from taking industrial action, calling it "a clear threat to the right of free association of workers." They have accused Air Malta's chairperson, Maria Micallef, of writing a "malicious" piece against their interests, after it was revealed in The Times that they were demanding €50,000 annually in salary raises. "Air Malta pilots have long been held in high esteem in terms of the standards of work ethic and a track history with a high security record level which speaks for itself," the union said yesterday. "The same cannot be said of the performance of the Air Malta manage- ment." The pilots' union has been a major critic of Air Malta's restructuring efforts ever since a €230 mil- lion deal was inked with the European Commission to scale down the bloated airline and turn it around to a profit-making business by 2016. That ship has long sailed away, which is why Malta hopes Alitalia can bail out the national airline. ALPA has accused Air Malta's management of downsizing its aircraft fleet to the detriment of the airline's market share, and claims senior management enjoys remuneration packages that would make the public balk. "We're disappointed at the way negotiations have been handled, even more now that confidential docu- mentation such as the minutes of these meetings, as yet unapproved by ALPA, have been made public," the union said yesterday. The union will go to court on 22 July to contest the prohibitory injunction against any further industrial action. The pilots have already toyed with action of their own after reporting for work dressed-down and without their uniforms. "ALPA has lost its trust in the current management of Air Malta," the union said, showing no signs of reprieve for this new feud. Alitalia tells Air Malta: deal dependent on outcome with pilots