Turkey'sgovernment continued to re-establish control over the country July 17, two daysafter a coup attemptby military officers.

Asgovernment officials declared the coup attempt over July 17, some 6,000 people,including military officials, judges and prosecutors were reported to have beentaken into custody. Among them were President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's chiefmilitary assistant and the Turkish commander of the Incirlik air base, whichthe U.S. military uses to patrol and launch airstrikes into Iraq and Syria. Atleast 250 people, including military and civilian personnel, died in violencerelated to the uprising.

Erdoganhas blamed the coup attempt on Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish cleric who has livedin the U.S. in self-imposed exile for 16 years. Gulen denied involvement, butErdogan has called on the U.S. to extradite him and return him to Turkey. In aninterview with the Financial Times, meanwhile,Gulen suggested Erdogan's party could have started the coup attempt on its own.

BloombergNews reported July 17 that Turkey's central bank was pledging to guaranteeliquidity to investors when markets opened July 18. The value of Turkey'scurrency, the lira, tumbled against the U.S. dollar as the unrest occurred, andthe bank would remove limits on foreign currency deposits that commerciallenders are allowed to use as collateral, Bloomberg reported.

Bothimports and exports of oil and gas were said to be unaffected by the unrest,Bloomberg reported. The news service cited one investment adviser as predictinga reduction in foreign investment in Turkey in the aftermath.