Have all the nonconvention news of the day, including another ambush targeting Police Officers leaving three dead and three wounded in baton rouge, lousiana. Plus, turkeys crackdown were on the ground there as the countrys government fires nearly 9,000 police, and arrests 6,000 others after a failed military coup. Woodruff all that and more on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. Lincoln financial is committed to helping you take charge of your future. And the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives. Supported by the rockefelle6r foundation. Promoting the wellbeing of humanity around the world by building resilience and inclusive economies. More at rockefellerfoundation. Org and with the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Woodruff the Republican National convention has officially opened for business, but not without a fuss. Opponents of donald trump objected loudly to adopting Convention Rules by voice vote. Meanwhile, the candidate is hoping to keep focused on a law andorder theme. Correspondent Lisa Desjardins begins out coverage. This convention will come to order. Reporter the convention formally began this afternoon, with events of the last two weeks looming over party business. Police killings of black men and the retaliatory killings of officers in dallas and now, baton rouge are in the air, and Republican Party chairman Reince Priebus opened with a moment of silence. The men and women who protect our safety and well being who put their lives on the line every day, theyre our genuine heroes. We also want to recognize all the families whove lost loved ones during these troubling times. Reporter the theme of day one is make america safe again, and it will dominate not just tonight, but throughout this campaign. Donald trump will try to make the case that the leadership of president obama and Hillary Clinton has fed violence at home and insecurity at home and abroad. Tonights speakers are meant to drive that message home, including milwaukee sheriff david clarke, retired navy seal marcus luttrell, and former new york city mayor rudy giuliani. In a convention twist, trump himself will introduce his wife melania, the nights featured speaker. But not everyone is here to see it. Ohio Governor John Kasich a onetime trump opponent is staying away. And so far former president s george w. Bush and his father, george h. W. Bush. Trump Campaign ManagerPaul Manafort today brushed aside the absences. The bush family we would have liked to have them. They are part of past. Were dealing with the future. Were dealing with the issues that relate to the future. Reporter another former trump opponent, ben carson, told the Newshours John Yang that the choice is going to be as dramatic as any choice we have ever had. We are talking about traditional american values, faith, family, personal responsibility, compassion for your neighbor. Versus a continuation of secular progressivism. Reporter meanwhile, hundreds of protesters showed up early today. We should have turned our backs on what i see is a festival of hate. Im very actually disappointed. Reporter several hundred Trump Supporters also gathered for a rally today, and a few were openly carrying guns. Authorities have banned some items in the event zone around the convention. But under ohios opencarry law, firearms are permitted. Thats adding to security worries, and the heavy police presence. Clevelands police chief Calvin Williams we want to make sure that the demonstrators are safe walking through the streets of the city of cleveland and we want to make sure that we have enough officers to respond if things turn otherwise. Reporter meanwhile, the democratic nomineetobe, Hillary Clinton, was in cincinnati, addressing the n. A. A. C. P. And laying into trump donald trump led the movement to delegitimize our first black president. Trumpeting the socalled birther movement. Donald trump plays coy with white supremacists. Donald trump insults mexican immigrants even an american judge born of mexican heritage. The g. O. P. Has been known as the party of lincoln. Clinton said we are watching it become the party of trump. And this convention saw its First Political test just late tonight as delegates who opposed mr. Trump call for a roll call vote trying to change the rules of the convention. They didnt have enough states to do that. In the end, the trump forces say they will be strong. Will we see more objections . Well see. Woodruff thank you, lisa. Gwen and i will be back later in the program with much more from cleveland. But now to Hari Sreenivasan in washington for the other main stories of the day. Sreenivasan thank you, judy. We turn to the crisis in turkey, where the government continued its crackdown on those involved in the attempted coup that left more than 250 dead and nearly 2,000 injured. Leaders from around the world are calling for restraint. Newshour special correspondent marcia biggs is in istanbul and has the latest. Reporter protests raged for yet another day in Istanbuls Taksim square. Supporters of president recep tayyip erdogan, vowing to protect their leader and turkeys fragile democracy. That fury was channeled by turkeys Prime Minister who said the country will evaluate whether to reinstate the Death Penalty for some who plotted the coup. Turkey had scrapped Capital Punishment as part of its ongoing bid to join the european union. translated it requires a change of constitution. We will decide in compliance with the peoples will. Reporter that brought a swift rebuke from the e. U. Foreign policy chief, federica mogherini, and others in europe. She and others urged turkish officials to pull back we are the ones saying today rule of law has to be protected in the country, there is no excuse for any steps that takes the country away from that. Reporter mogherini spoke before meetings in brussels with secretary of state john kerry and other foreign ministers. Kerry pledged support for turkeys government, but cautioned the u. S. And others will be watching closely. N. A. T. O. Also has a requirement with respect to democracy, and n. A. T. O. Will indeed measure very carefully what is happening. A major point reporter a major point of contention between the u. S. And turkey the fate of muslim cleric and erdogan opponent fetullah gulen, who lives in pennsylvania in selfimposed exile. Erdogan and his administration say gulen orchestrated the coup attempt a charge the cleric forcefully denies; turkey is demanding he be extradited. The coup attempt by factions of turkeys military launched a night of terror late friday president erdogan who was on vacation spoke first via facetime on turkish tv and called for his supporters to take to the streets. Then late at night, he flew into istanbuls airport and vowed to purge the military and government. Those guns were given to you by the people of this country. If you use the guns against the people who gave them to you, you will pay a heavy price. Reporter chaos continued through the night, but by midday saturday, the strike against the state was largely defeated erdogan has moved swiftly to make good on his vow to purge the country of what he calls conspirators 9,000 police and other Security Officials were fired today; more than 6,000 military personnel have been detained, and more than 3,000 judges suspended. Offices of many turkish media organizations were stormed friday night including state television and cnns turkish network. Murat yetkin is editorinchief of hurriyet daily news, whose office was also taken hostage. The question remains who has remained the true winner . Erdogans popularity has increased. Whether in favor of president erdogan or not, most people we spoke to agreed military rule was not the answer. Where the people remain bitterly divided is over the future identity of their government, islamic or secular. Tarkan runs this cafe in a secular neighborhood. Im scared all the time, i dont feel any safe unfortunately. He says his biggest fear is that his two small children will not live in a free turkey. His friend emre is a 31yearold gay photographer. When demonstrators took to the streets, he says he felt targeted, and with no one to call for protection. I dont feel safe really in my own country. They think we are not because we are wearing the short dress and drinking the alcohol. Reporter 35yearold burcu is terrified of the erdogan governments promise to institute aspects of islamic law into the traditionally secular turkish legal system. translated theyre telling us protect your democracy, but this is not what i understand from democracy or what i want to live in democracy. The last two days and people are going out on the streets with machetes. Reporter in this neighborhood, the people we met were scared, sad, and desperately uncertain of their future. Not a ten minute walk away, we met 48yearold taci and his family. Taci took his son with him out on the streets friday night in support of erodgan. He praises the president for what he has done for the economy and scoffs at suggestions that turkey under his rule has lost its freedom. translated look around. Everyone can dress as they want. Therell be no sharia law brought to turkey, no such thing will happen. Reporter his wife hulya tells us that erdogan is the strong leader the country needs and she is pleased that her children can now attend religion classes at school, as part of a program initiated by erdogan for what he calls the devout generation. translated if we had sharia law now, the heads of these generals which attempted the coup would be hanging at the palace gates. There was no forgiveness during ottoman time under sharia law. We want Capital Punishment. We want it deep from our hearts. And it will happen, inshallah. Reporter strong opinions on both sides perhaps, and looming uncertainty for a divided country and a fragile state. For the pbs newshour im marcia biggs in istanbul, turkey. Sreenivasan for more on this we turn to soner cagaptay, director of the Turkish Research program at the Washington Institute for near east policy. Hes also the author of, the rise of turkey the 21st centurys first muslim power. And newshour chief Foreign Affairs correspondent margaret warner. Soner, first, the information coming out of turkey says the interior ministry has fired close to 9,000 people. Were that many people involved in this coup . Probably not. Its likely that the military plotters of the coup that the government arrested were involved in it, but i cant believe 9,000 judges and many other civilian employees were involved in the cool. Rather this suggests the government is going after the gulen movement, former ally, also conservative movement as the akps is, but since the rift 2013, there has been a blood feud between the two and its not a coincidence therefore there were some gulen aligned officers who took part in this effort but the government is cast ago wider net and going after what it thinks are supporters and sympathizers of this movement in the bureaucracy and judiciary. So expect a large scale witch hunt in turkey coming up. Sreenivasan more about gulen in a second, but what is the u. S. s position on what is a largescale crackdown, margaret . That is the number one u. S. Concern. The u. S. Was caught offguard by this, hari, and certainly came out and said the right things about supporting a democratic government but followed admonitions to erdogan not to use this as a way to purge in the way he has in the journalist and community in the judeiary purged who he thinks is his opponents and when secretary kerry made his first comments i think it was saturday and suggested at least in the reporting that turkeys n. A. T. O. Membership might be affected by this, there was a huge reaction from turkish diplomats who peppered the state department and the white house demanding an explanation. So today you saw the White House Press secretary taking concerns taking care to say, look, turkey is a member and this is not like the e. U. , but theyre concerned in the white house this will deepen the rift with turkey. The chile membership said they thought the u. S. Was behind the cool. So deep concerns. Sreenivasan erdogan says im not behind the coup. Secretary kerry says prove hes behind the cool. Who is he and does he have the kind of influence who scares erdogan so much in. Hes known to have friends in bureaucracy, military and judiciary. After the rift started between him and president erdogan, many suspected gulen aligned people in the bureaucracy were kicked out. This gives erdogan a Second Chance to really go after this movement. I think at the end whether or not we think gulen was behind the coup fully, this is what president erdogan believes. He believes this is the main driving fort behind the coup and he will go after them with his force. Gulen will now be issue number one. Erdogan will insist on his extradition and night link turkish u. S. Cooperation on gulens extradition. Erdogan has a policy of allowing fighters to cross the border from syria. People might say at the pentagon we dont want to deal wit. I think turkey ought to separate the issues, provide to washington a full and convincing account of gulen involvement in the coup was keep military operations separate from that. Sreenivasan what soner pointed to is the geographic and political importance turkey is to the u. S. And the fight against i. S. I. S. The air base, the former commander to have base who tried to get silence from the u. S. Were working out of there. Its all very uncomfortable. The power has not even been restored to the base, the u. S. Has its own power. Turkey is now key, given its related involvement in the fight against i. S. I. S. , in which it really is cracking down on people trying to get in and most importantly letting u. S. Planes use that not only to refuel but to launch offensive strikes. Otherwise, that have to come from carriers in the ocean, taking five, six times as much and having to leave without dropping their ordinance. So its maintaining the relationship. You can see the United States trying very hard to manage it so it doesnt go awrite as soner suggested. There will be problems moving forward because there is no good outcome of the coup for turkey. If the military had won, it would have become an oppressive country. Erdogan has won but it still will be more oppressive because he has a record of cracking down on dissent, going after opposition, planning social media, and banning defectors. Its based ton theory there is a conspiracy to overthrow him. His supporters will embrace his crackdown ono pegs as a necessary tool to go after those who want to undermine him and he will continue to cast a wide net against the opposition. While turkeys erdogan go after who were blind this plot, his net will be wider for the opposition and much more difficult for turks to oppose his policies democratically. The u. S. Will know in two weeks whether its that or theyre just rounding up a lot of suspects and in two weeks most are free and they identify coup plotters. Sreenivasan thanks so much. A pleasure. Sreenivasan now back to this country and the latest round of violence involving police. Last week, baton rouge, louisiana was the site of protests following the Police Killing of alton sterling. Yesterday saw an ambush that left three officers killed and three wounded. Jeffrey brown reports. Brown mourners laid flowers today outside the baton rouge gas station where sundays slaughter took place. And, investigators confirmed the attack was definitely planned. There is no doubt whatsoever that these officers were intentionally targeted and assassinated. It was a calculated act against those who work to protect this Community Every single day. Brown the gunman was former u. S. Marine gavin long of kansas city, missouri, who served in the marine corps from 2005 to 2010, including six months in iraq. He carried out the attack on his 29th birthday before dying in a shootout with police. Long had previously posted messages on social media saying he was fed up with the treatment of africanamericans. You gotta fight back. Thats the only way a bully knows to quit. He doesnt know words. Brown the slain officers were identified as sheriffs deputy brad garafola, and Police OfficersMontrell Jackson and matthew gerald. Their killing came less than two weeks after the death of alton sterling, who was fatally shot by Baton Rouge Police during a scuffle. Sterlings death and the killing of Philando Castile in st. Paul, minnesota triggered protests nationwide. After a protest in dallas, a sniper shot dead five Police Officers, saying he wanted revenge for Police Killings of black men. Today, attorney general Loretta Lynch condemned the bloodshed during a conference of black Law Enforcement officers in washington. We are determined to do everything that we can to bridge divides, to heal the rifts and to restore trust. Brown the killings rippled through the president ial campaign as well. Democrat Hillary Clinton said today there can be no justification for killing police. And Republican Donald Trump blamed president obamas leadership and said, we demand law and order. And from Louisiana Public broadcasting in baton rouge, were join