Two members of parliament from Tocantins are in Türkiye.

247 - Federal deputies César Halum (PRB) and Professora Dorinha (DEM) from Tocantins are being held at the Sura Haja Hotel in Istanbul, Turkey, where the Armed Forces announced this Friday, the 15th, that they have taken control of the government in a coup d'état against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Halum, Dorinha, and other parliamentarians from other states went to Türkiye to attend the World School Games, the Gymnasiade 2016.

Halum said that people have been prevented from going out on the streets for two days. "The airport is closed, all the bridges are closed, there are tanks everywhere, fighter jets flying overhead all the time," reported the congressman from Tocantins.

The official mission began on Monday the 11th, and the deputies were preparing to return to Brazil at 8 am this Saturday the 16th.

Halum explained that Istanbul is far from Ankara, the capital of Turkey, where the atmosphere is more tense and there have even been exchanges of gunfire. "We learned that the president requested political asylum in Germany and was leaving the country on an American plane," the parliamentarian said.

According to him, the Brazilian consul-general in Istanbul, Ambassador Paulo França, has been taking "very good" care of the delegation of deputies. "We are under his custody. The instruction is for us to stay at the hotel and only leave here with orders to go to the airport in time to board," he stated.

Halum said that the delegation of deputies is concerned about the 230 Brazilian athletes who went to Turkey and are in the city of Trabzon, where the school games are taking place. "But the ambassador is also taking care of the Brazilian delegation," Halum reassured them.

Watch the video of Congressman César Halum: