Reporting from Ankara, Turkey — It is dawn and the streets of Ankara’s Kizilay district are empty, strewn with rubbish and glass. A man casts a solitary figure, sweeping shards into piles after a night of bracing violence. Little else moves.
On Ankara’s main boulevard, mangled cars sit at intervals. Some trees have been uprooted and shattered by the force of the previous night’s brutality.
There is the vague howl of a jet high above. Gunfire occasionally rattles.
Only a few hours earlier, fighter jets were screaming at supersonic speeds through Ankara’s skies in aerial dogfights that shook the city with sonic booms. Police and dissident soldiers were locked in gunfights around key state institutions.
But by morning, an eerie quiet hung over this city of 4.6 million people. The normally bustling streets in Kizilay slowly came back to life, people returning to its broad boulevards dotted with cafes and bars.
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Mourners carry the coffin of a man who died during the coup attempt at a funeral ceremony at Kocatepe Mosque in Ankara, Turkey. Support from the highest ranks in the army helped keep President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in power.
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Women react during the funeral of a victim of the failed coup attempt in Istanbul, Turkey.
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A Turkish police officer restrains a man during an operation in front of the courthouse in Ankara. Turkey has detained more than 7,500 suspects it says were involved in the failed coup attempt.
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Turkish police patrol during an operation in front of the courthouse in Ankara.
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A boy is wrapped in a flag of the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, in Taksim Square. Turkish authorities pressed on with a crackdown against suspects in the failed coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
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Relatives of Turkish geologist Cuma Dag, 39, who was killed by helicopter gunfire Friday while protesting the coup attempt, mourn at his funeral in Ankara.
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Members of the public cheer as Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim speaks after a meeting with the Turkish Speaker of Parliament at the Turkish Grand Assembly in Ankara.
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Women try to take pictures of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan walking through the crowd of supporters, as security officers stand on a roof in Istanbul
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Turkish anti riot police officers escort Turkish soldiers who allegedly took part in a military coup in the Bakirkoy district in Istanbul
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People kick and beat a Turkish soldier that participated in the attempted coup, on Istanbul’s Bosporus Bridge.
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Supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan shout slogans and hold flags during a demonstration, against the failed Army coup attempt.
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A woman takes a picture of herself in front a damaged Turkish military APC that was attacked by protesters near the Turkish military headquarters in Ankara.
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Pro-Erdogan protesters wave Turkish flags and shout slogans as they demonstrate in Istanbul in support the government following a failed coup attempt.
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Turkish citizens wave their national flags as they protest against the military coup outside Turkey’s parliament near the Turkish military headquarters in Ankara, Turkey.
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A Turkish police officer embraces a man atop an empty tank that had been used in the coup attempt in Istanbul.
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People wave Turkish flags at the Ataturk airport in Istanbul, which was taken over by supporters of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
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A lawmaker addresses a nearly empty chamber of Turkey’s parliament in Ankara on July 16, 2016.
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Passengers whose flights were canceled because of the coup attempt wait at Ataturk airport in Istanbul on July 16, 2016.
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People waving Turkish flags take to the streets of Ankara in opposition to the military coup attempt.
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People sit next to a giant Turkish flag after they took over a military position at the Ataturk airport in Istanbul.
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People react after they take over a military position on the Bosphorus bridge in Istanbul on July 16, 2016. (BULENT KILIC / AFP/Getty Images)
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Turkish people holding flags are driven in a car, backdropped by Istanbul’s iconic Bosphorus Bridge, Saturday, July 16, 2016.
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Turkish people celebrate as Turkish police officers, loyal to the government, stand atop tanks abandoned by Turkish army officers against a backdrop of Istanbul’s iconic Bosporus Bridge, Saturday, July 16, 2016. (Emrah Gurel / Associated Press)
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Women react after people took over military positions on the Bosphorus bridge in Istanbul on July 16, 2016. (OZAN KOSE / AFP/Getty Images)
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People try to stop a Turkish police armored vehicle carrying Turkish soldiers that participated in the coup and surrendered, Saturday, July 16, 2016. (Emrah Gurel / Associated Press)
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Soliders involved in the coup attempt surrender on Bosphorus bridge. (Gokhan Tan / Getty Images)
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Clothes and weapons beloging to surrendered soldiers involved in the coup attempt lie abandoned on the ground on Bosphorus Bridge.
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Soliders involved in the coup attempt surrender on Bosphorus bridge. (Gokhan Tan / Getty Images)
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Soldiers involved in the coup attempt surrender on Bosphorus bridge. (Gokhan Tan / Getty Images)
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A police officer talks with soldiers involved in the coup attempt after they surrendered on Bosphorus bridge. (Gokhan Tan / Getty Images)
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Turkish anti-riot police officers use water cannon on people as a police bus carrying detained Turkish soldiers passes over the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul.
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People react after they took over military positions on the Bosphorus bridge in Istanbul. (OZAN KOSE / AFP/Getty Images)
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In this image taken from video provided by Anadolu Agency, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks to the media Saturday, July 16, 2016 in Istanbul. Erdogan said that his government was working to crush a coup attempt after a night of explosions, air battles and gunfire that left dozens dead and at least 150 people wounded. (Anadolu Agency / Associated Press)
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Turkish people gather near a burned car in Istanbul, Saturday, July 16, 2016. (Emrah Gurel / Associated Press)
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People gather around a car which was crushed by a tank in Kizilay Square. (Burhan Ozbilici / Associated Press)
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A car burns during a firefight between Turkish army and Turkish police in Istanbul’s Taksim Square. (Cavit Ozgul / Associated Press)
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Turkish soldiers arrested by police sit in a police bus in Istanbul’s Taksim Square, early Saturday, July 16, 2016. (Selcuk Samiloglu / Associated Press)
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People take to the streets in Ankara, Turkey. (ADEM ALTAN / AFP/Getty Images)
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A Turkish soldier, arrested by civilians, is led to be handed to police officers in Taksim Square in Istanbul, Turkey, early Saturday, July 16, 2016. (Selcuk Samiloglu / Associated Press)
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A man holds the flag of Turkey in front of a destroyed car, crashed by a military tank. (Burhan Ozbilici / Associated Press)
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Turkish soldiers, arrested by civilians, are handed to police officers in Istanbul’s Taksim Square. (Selcuk Samiloglu / Associated Press)
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Turkish people, protesting against the coup, in Istanbul early Saturday, July 16, 2016. (Omer Kuscu / Associated Press)
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A Turkish soldier, arrested by civilians, is walked to be handed to police officers, in Istanbul’s Taksim Square. (Selcuk Samiloglu / Associated Press)
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People gather in Ankara’s main Kizilay Square to protest an attemped military coup. (Burhan Ozbilici / Associated Press)
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A Turkish soldier that participated in the coup and apprehended by civilians is escorted to be handed over to police, in Istanbul’s Taksim Square. (Selcuk Samiloglu / Associated Press)
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Supporters of Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, protest in Istanbul’s Taksim square, early Saturday, July 16, 2016. (Emrah Gurel / Associated Press)
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A woman lies on the ground in Ankara, Turkey. (Gokhan Sahin / Getty Images)
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People take over a tank near the Fatih Sultan Mehmet bridge during clashes with military forces in Istanbul on July 16, 2016. (GURCAN OZTURK / AFP/Getty Images)
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People take over a tank near the Fatih Sultan Mehmet bridge during clashes with military forces in Istanbul on July 16, 2016. (GURCAN OZTURK / AFP/Getty Images)
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People take over a tank near the Fatih Sultan Mehmet bridge during clashes with military forces in Istanbul on July 16, 2016. (GURCAN OZTURK / AFP/Getty Images)
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People take over a tank near the Fatih Sultan Mehmet bridge during clashes with military forces in Istanbul on July 16, 2016. (GURCAN OZTURK / AFP/Getty Images)
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People take to the streets near the Fatih Sultan Mehmet bridge during clashes with military forces in Istanbul on July 16, 2016. (GURCAN OZTURK / AFP/Getty Images)
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Turkish solders at Taksim square as people react. (OZAN KOSE / AFP/Getty Images)
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A tank is parked in the entrance to Istanbul’s Ataturk airport, early Saturday, July 16, 2016. (Ismail Coskun / Associated Press)
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People protesting against the coup wave a Turkish flag in Istanbul’s Taksim square, early Saturday, July 16, 2016. (Emrah Gurel / Associated Press)
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An injured man is attended to by police when Turkish soldiers opened fire to disperse the crowd in Istanbul’s Taksim square, early Saturday, July 16, 2016. (Emrah Gurel / Associated Press)
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Turkish army vehicles enter the Ataturk Airport on July 16, 2016 in Istanbul. (Defne Karadeniz / Getty Images)
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Turkish army’s tank enter the Ataturk Airport on July 16, 2016 in Istanbul. (Defne Karadeniz / Getty Images)
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A passenger walks with her luggage as Turkish army’s tanks enter the Ataturk Airport on July 16, 2016 in Istanbul. (Defne Karadeniz / Getty Images)
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A man lies in front of a tank in the entrance to Istanbul’s Ataturk airport, early Saturday, July 16, 2016. (Ismail Coskun / Associated Press)
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A man shot during clashes between Turkish solders and police near Taksim square in Istanbul on July 16, 2016 is treated by paramedics. (OZAN KOSE / AFP/Getty Images)
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People occupy a tank in Istanbul. (TOLGA BOZOGLU / EPA)
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Supporters of Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, gather, waving Turkish flags, in Istanbul’s Taksim square, early Saturday, July 16, 2016. (Emrah Gurel / AP)
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Turkish military control a road in Istanbul on July 16, 2016, after Turkish troops launched a coup. (GURCAN OZTURK / AFP/Getty Images)
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Supporters of president of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan shout slogans at the Taksim Square in Istanbul. (SEDAT SUNA / EPA)
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People take to the streets in support of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on July 16, 2016 in Antalya, Turkey.
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People take to the streets in support of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on July 16, 2016 in Antalya, Turkey.
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People take to the streets in support of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on July 16, 2016 in Antalya, Turkey. (Chris McGrath / Getty Images)
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People take to the streets in support of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on July 16, 2016 in Antalya, Turkey. (Chris McGrath / Getty Images)
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Turkish army tanks move in the main streets in the early morning hours of July 16, 2016 in Ankara, Turkey. (Gokhan Sahin / Getty Images)
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A man approaches Turkish military with his hands up at the entrance to the Bosphorus bridge in Istanbul. (BULENT KILIC / AFP/Getty Images)
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upporters of president of Turkey Recep Tayyup Erdogan shout slogans at the Taksim Square in Istanbul. (SEDAT SUNA / EPA)
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Supporters of president of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan shout slogans at the Taksim Square in Istanbul. (SEDAT SUNA / EPA)
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A military tank at entrance to the Bosphorus bridge in Istanbul. (BULENT KILIC / AFP/Getty Images)
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People carry a man shot during clashes with Turkish military at the entrance to the Bosphorus bridge in Istanbul. (BULENT KILIC / AFP/Getty Images)
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A man performs CPR on a wounded man after clashes with Turkish military at the entrance to the Bosphorus bridge in Istanbul. (BULENT KILIC / AFP/Getty Images)
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A supporter of Recep Tayyip Erdogan shout slogans at the Taksim Square in Istanbul.
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A military tank crushes a car in Istanbul.
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Supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
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People run along the main streets of Istanbul.
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Turkish army APCs move in the main streets on July 15, 2016 in Istanbul.
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks on CNN Turk via an iPhone Facetime call.
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Tanks move into position as Turkish people attempt to stop them in Ankara.
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Turkish soldiers secure the area as supporters of Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan protest in Istanbul’s Taksim Square.
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Supporters of Recep Tayyip Erdogan shout slogans at Taksim Square in Istanbul, Turkey.
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Turkish soldiers block Istanbul’s iconic Bosphorus Bridge as an apparent coup attempt unfolds.
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A group of Turkish internal security officers passes a soldier on the streets of Istanbul.
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Turkish soldiers take up positions along the road to the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul, which was closed during an apparent coup attempt.
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Police officers stand guard near the Turkish military headquarters in Ankara, Turkey.
(Kutluhan Cucel / Getty Images) More than 160 people were killed overnight, many of them civilians, according to the semi-state Anadolu Agency, in a bloody conflict of a magnitude not seen during Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s 14 years of rule.
Military dissidents, staging the country’s first coup in 19 years, repeatedly fired on crowds of protesters. Helicopter gunships carved through the skies. Warplanes launched airstrikes on the parliament and areas around Erdogan’s presidential palace.
The dissidents, primarily drawn from the ranks of the air and land forces, said they were seeking to reverse an erosion of Turkey’s secular institutions under the Erdogan government’s increasingly Islamist and authoritarian rule.
In a country beset by crises, the overnight violence shook the country to its core.
“I’m a total wreck,†said one Kizilay resident, who asked not to be named. “I’m really afraid to go outside.â€
Many hundreds of Erdogan’s party faithful gathered in Ankara’s Milli Egemenlik Park on Saturday, with Turkish flags draped across their shoulders. They set up booming chants cried by Ottoman armies of an epoch past: “We resign ourselves to the Greatest God.â€
One man sat in a ruined van, now draped in Turkish flags, dabbing his eyes with a tissue and listening to a senior police official announce the restoration of democracy.
I’m really afraid to go outside.
— A Kizilay resident
The same streets had erupted in chaos overnight. Gunfire boomed, much of it high-caliber. Explosions shook buildings, shattering windows and sending demonstrators scurrying in a stampede.
A man hastened from an apartment block carrying an infant and clutching a young girl’s hand. They rounded a corner, onto a calmer street, and disappeared into the night.
Video shared on social media showed government supporters facing off with tanks, in most cases, unarmed men confronting machine gun-toting soldiers. Some footage depicted mobs beating soldiers bloody.
The aerial dogfights started when rebels “hijacked†six U.S.-supplied F-16s from a base at Diyarbakir in southeast Turkey, according to presidential spokesman Dogan Eskinat. As the planes raced over Ankara and Istanbul early Saturday at low altitudes, the government deployed two F-16s to chase them from the skies.
The rebel planes headed to a different airbase, Malatya in southern Turkey. There, local citizens stormed the airport and occupied the tarmac to prevent any other hijacked planes from taking off, Eskinat said.
In Istanbul, Mustafa Zia found himself face to face shortly before midnight Friday with a policeman toting a machine gun. A supporter of the government, Zia was unsure whether he and the officer were on the same side.
Heeding Erdogan’s call, Zia was joining thousands of other citizens trying to confront soldiers and tanks that had taken over the Bosphorus Bridge, a major route connecting Istanbul’s Asian and European sides.
“I wanted to go past him, to get to the bridge,†he said. “I yelled at him, I had lost my mind by then, I just remember yelling, ‘Who are you working for?’ â€
Zia drove as close as he could to the foot of the bridge, then started walking until the police officer stopped him, telling him to turn around. Zia turned around, then came back a few minutes later to find the police officer gone.
By then, the crowd was surrounding three tanks that were trying to make their way onto the bridge.
“People climbed onto the first tank and took the weapons from the soldiers, but then the soldiers on the other tanks started shooting at us with machine guns. One man was shot and he fell, and we moved him into a car that took him to get help,†Zia said.
The tanks made their way up the bridge, apparently to join other units participating in the coup. Zia and the protesters chased after them, only to fall back as they were met by gunfire — some aimed into the air and some directed at them.
“Some bus drivers who had left their buses had helped us. They parked the buses so we could use them as a shield,†Zia said. “It was beautiful. There were women; there were families. Everyone came out to stop this coup.â€
For the next three hours, Zia and thousands of government supporters sheltered behind the buses, as jets and helicopters flew overhead.
There was firing all night between the police and soldiers.
— Mustafa Zia
“There was firing all night between the police and soldiers. It was not continuous, but came every few minutes and lasted for a short time,†Zia said.
As morning approached, the number of lightly armed police among the protesters was reinforced by elite officers, armed with heavy machine guns and anchored around armored trucks.
They moved beyond the line of buses Zia was using as a shield and were met by fire from the soldiers. “I saw one tank fire on an armored car. There were police inside. The whole thing was destroyed,†Zia said.
By daybreak, the police and protesters moved beyond the shield of buses they had used for the night and onto the bridge. “The soldiers and the police started firing at each other. There were people being shot down,†Zia said.
Eventually, the soldiers on the bridge gave up and laid their weapons down as police and government supporters rushed to subdue them.
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“People starting celebrating. They climbed onto the tanks. They took pictures with them,†Zia said. The government supporters chanted, “God is great!†and “Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Re-cep Erdo-gan!â€
Most of the scores of dissident soldiers involved in the coup attempt were arrested on live television, walking away with hands behind their backs one at a time, escorted by police officers.
Behind them, the surface of the bridge was a mess of bodies, military helmets and surrendered weapons.
For the most part, it was over.
By Saturday afternoon in Istanbul’s Fatih neighborhood, mosques were announcing the funerals of the “martyred†every half-hour or so. They were calling the faithful to special congregational prayers “to obtain God’s assistance in a time of need.â€
Special correspondent Johnson reported from Ankara and Farooq from Istanbul. Special correspondent Roy Gutman contributed from Istanbul.
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UPDATES:
2:50 p.m.: This article was updated with reporting on military aircraft operations during the coup attempt.
This article was originally published at 12:05 p.m.
