Istiklal Street, the promenade at the heart of Istanbul’s normally buzzing shopping district, was largely empty on Saturday afternoon. Street side ice cream sellers, famous for drumming rhythmically with metallic scoopers, rested on their elbows, seemingly bored. Curiously absent, too, were the scores of security forces that usually clog the sidewalks during times of unrest in the city —12 hours after a coup attempt, this historic boulevard was mostly unpatrolled.
“Last night was small. It was very easy for the government, because there was not a big army,” said Metin Korknaz, who runs a fruit stand on a small side street. Korknaz was upbeat, even though the passageway was nearly empty, there were more vendors than customers there, keeping watch over rows of Turkish delight, mussels and cheap jewellery. “Business today? No. They’ll stay away because they don’t know what’s going on.”
Bright Turkish flags hung above his crates of bananas — if there were fewer people out, there were noticeably more flags. Motorcyclists waved the red and white crescent as they cruised the open street, turning around at the end of Istiklal to repeat the journey, back and forth.
At Taksim Square — the site of widespread anti-government protests during the summer of 2013 — a small group of pro-government men gathered and chanted Allahu Akbar with flags in hand.
Sam Ayoub and Samer Yunis, in town for a few (eventful) days from Beirut, were at the square last night.
“There were many people, and planes, and guns,” says Ayoub. Rebel-operated jets flew low over Istanbul much of the night, and social media users reported sonic booms shattering windows. At Taksim, the crowd was eventually dispersed and flooded down Istiklal. “The police cleared people out, and we were running. They thought there was going to be a bomb.”
When newsrooms became news
The newsrooms of several media outlets also became unexpected stages for the night’s drama. Early on, rebelling soldiers forced their way into into the studios of TRT, the state-run T.V. channel, and forced its anchor to read a statement announcing the start of the coup to the nation. By early morning, CNN Turk in Istanbul was also raided — and pulled off the air during a live broadcast — followed shortly by the newspaper Hurriyet, housed in the same building.
“They had our security guys with their hands on their heads, and were pointing guns at everyone. They went through the corridors to see if anyone was missing,” said Ali Kayalar, a reporter at Hurriyet who was in the newsroom at the time. Kayalar counted fourteen privates and one captain among the soldiers. “After ten minutes, they made us go outside, and there we saw the police.”
Police and soldiers clashed intermittently for forty minutes, until the soldiers surrendered.
“The captain was shot and everyone else was detained,” said Kayalar. “Our editor here asked the captain who had ordered the attack, but he refused to tell him.”
By morning, Hurriyet’s newsroom had returned to its regular operations.
Bombings at Ankara
Ankara, the capital, was also left reeling from heavy fighting, including repeated bombings of the Turkish parliament building with lawmakers inside, and artillery fire from rebel-operated helicopters, a graphic video of which was widely circulated on social media.
“All these people are just pitiful toys manipulated, controlled and encouraged by Fethullah Gulen,” said Selim Cerrah, an Ankara city councilor from the ruling Justice and Development Party. Gulen is the exiled, U.S.-based cleric whom President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has blamed for instigating the coup attempt. “They are murderers who have turned the barrel of their guns on the nation, to kill those who love their country.”
Back in Istanbul, by early evening some tourists and shoppers slowly began to emerge on Istiklal street—and the retro red tram that runs down its center continued its slow traverse, with more passengers inside. More pro-government Turks, too, came out to celebrate the defeat of the coup, chanting loudly at passersby.
Business here may soon return to normal — but just two weeks after terrorists killed more than 40 at Ataturk airport, stability for Anatolia is proving elusive.