Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a news conference following the National Security Council and cabinet meetings at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey, July 20, 2016. REUTERS/Umit Bektas

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday he believed foreign countries might have been involved in last weekend’s failed coup attempt, though he declined to name any.

Speaking through an interpreter in an interview with broadcaster Al Jazeera, Erdogan also dismissed suggestions that he was becoming authoritarian and that Turkish democracy was under any threat.

“We will remain within a democratic parliamentary system, we will never step away from it,” he said.