Diplomats danced as putsch began

WITH the Pimms and gin-and-elder-flower cocktails flowing, the summer party at the British mission in Istanbul was in full swing on Friday evening. No one noticed an attempt at a full-blown military coup d’etat was underway.

The party was thrown in honour of Consul General Leigh Turner, to mark the end of his four years as the UK’s representative in the city, and the dress code was ‘summer chic – hats and gloves welcome’.

But, as rebel forces seized control of key bridges and aircraft circled the city, the gregarious Mr Turner was busy DJ-ing, playing disco hits to a crowd of around 300 diplomats, expats and businessmen.

The party had moved inside as darkness fell – and Mr Turner leapt at the chance to take to the decks. As a group of putschists blockaded the bridges connecting the European side of the city with its Asian half, Mr Turner was spinning 1970s chart classics.

One guest, Nick Hobbs, 62, a British concert promoter who has lived in Istanbul for 13 years, said he had no idea an attempted coup was in progress, even when he heard helicopters overhead.

The party would have gone on until midnight were it not for the extraordinary events unfolding across the city – and in the capital, Ankara, 300 miles away.

At around 11pm, the Turkish Prime Minister acknowledged an attempted coup was under way, and Foreign Office staff went into crisis mode, setting up a hotline for the estimated 250,000 British citizens in Turkey.

At the party, guests were given the choice of heading back to their homes or taking shelter in the consulate for the night.

Around 40 guests stayed – but the party was over, the Consul General’s disco decks silent.