ISTANBUL >> Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has returned to the capital Ankara for a ceremony marking the moment parliament was bombed a year ago during the failed coup attempt.

Thousands of people have gathered outside the parliament in the early hours of Sunday, waving Turkish flags and holding up pictures of the 250 people who died confronting the coup-plotters. Turkey’s top cleric recited a prayer for the victims.

Many marched to the building clutching a 3 kilometer- (1.86 mile) long flag, the Hurriyet newspaper reported.