ISTANBUL // Tens of thousands of supporters of Turkey's main opposition group, joined by some ruling party members, rallied on Sunday in Istanbul to denounce the failed coup.
But the rare show of unity belied opposition unease over president Recep Tayyip Erdogan's crackdown since the failed uprising.
Since the coup attempt on July 15, a total of 13,165 people have been detained, according to president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
On Sunday, Amnesty International said it had "credible evidence" that some of those held were being "subjected to beatings and torture, including rape, in official and unofficial detention centres".
The human rights group said it had received reports that police in the capital Ankara and Istanbul were holding detainees in "stress positions" for up to 48 hours.
It also claimed detainees were being denied food, water and medical treatment while being verbally abused and threatened.
Two lawyers in Ankara working on behalf of detainees told Amnesty that their clients saw senior military officers being raped.
The rights group said higher-ranking military officials were subject to worse treatment in comparison with other detainees.
In Turkey, a senior official denied Amnesty's claims and vowed that Ankara would uphold human rights.
"The idea that Turkey, a country seeking European Union membership, would not respect the law is absurd," the official said.
"We categorically deny the allegations and encourage advocacy groups to provide an unbiased account of the legal steps that are being taken against people who murdered nearly 250 civilians in cold blood."
In Istanbul, steel barriers were erected around Taksim square on Sunday to protect the flag-waving marchers, who entered through security checkpoints. In addition to the violence during the coup attemtp, Turkey has been hit by deadly bombings and other attacks blamed on ISIL and Kurdish separatist rebels.
The rally was organized by the opposition Republican People's Party, which was close to secularist generals who used to control the military. The party has lost clout since Mr Erdogan came to power more than a decade ago with votes from a pious Muslim class that was sidelined under Turkey's past secular rulers.
"The coup attempt was done against our democratic, secular, social state, governed by rule of law," Kemal Kilicdaroglu, head of the Republican People's Party, said in a speech.
Mr Kilicdaroglu did not directly criticize Mr Erdogan, though he stressed the importance of a free press and freedom of assembly and the dangers of dictatorship and authoritarianism. The remarks partly echoed his recent criticism that Turkey's state of emergency jeopardizes democracy by granting extra powers to Mr Erdogan.
Despite Turkey's deep political divisions, Istanbul's mayor and other leaders of Mr Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) joined the opposition demonstrators to denounce military intervention in politics.
* Associated Press, Agence France-Presse
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