In the later hours of Friday, a military coup attempt in Turkey swung into action in its two major cities. Later revealed to be a minority in the Turkish military, soldiers took to the streets of Istanbul and Turkey’s capital, Ankara, and the troops blocked bridges over the Bosphorus strait in Istanbul while low flying jets were seen flying overhead. Shortly after, Turkey’s Prime Minister Binali Yildirim announced to the country that an attempt to overthrow the Turkish government was under way.
Through the use of a state broadcaster, the military faction announced that it had seized power as a means of protecting the democracy and human rights of the Turkish people as they felt this was under threat from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who had a history of enforcing authoritarianism and allegedly manipulating elections in his favor. The faction of the army proceeded to announce a curfew, martial law and the preparation of a new constitution.
Mr Erdogan, who was on holiday at the time, called on his supporters and urged them to take to the streets to take control, he said this via FaceTime on live television. He mentioned that the country should be ruled under the will of the people and that showing resistance is necessary, despite his history of banning protests. As extremely large numbers of supporters came out onto the streets, the night descended into violence. Protesters were shot at, the parliament and presidential buildings were being fired upon, tanks ploughed through groups of protesters and crushed cars with people still in them.
After hours of chaos, it had been made clear that the coup attempt was ultimately a failure, with an almost complete absence of vocal public support or larger military backing with the opposition parties and global leaders condemning the attempt. On Saturday morning, soldiers began surrendering, abandoning their tanks and weapons, trusting the supporters and police that they faced to respond in a civil manner. In many cases, peaceful arrests were made, however, pro-Erdogan protesters who were large in numbers, huddled up troops and brutally beat on them while the police watched, allegedly not making an effort to stop them. Other cases of violence against the troops post-surrender included lynching and even decapitation by the government supporters.
Fethullah Gulen, a preacher and former Imam who holds significant power, was blamed by the government as being responsible for the coup attempt despite his denial and condemning of the coup. Meanwhile, over 6,000 members of the judiciary and military, including those of a high ranking, have been detained. Additionally, nearly 8,000 police officers have been suspended on suspicion of having involvement with the coup attempt.