Kampf auf der Bosporus-Brücke - Die Türkei und der gescheiterte Putschversuch

July 15, 2016, a night that altered the course of Turkish history, featured coordinated assaults by factions of the Turkish armed forces, including attacks in Istanbul, aimed at toppling the government. The decisive confrontation unfolded on the Bosporus Bridge. While President Erdogan was on holiday, he spoke live on television, urging supporters to stand against the mutineers. He named Fethullah Gülen as the coup's mastermind and urged the imams of the country's mosques to mobilize the population to resist. Consequently that night, thousands took to the streets to confront the armed insurgents. The death toll reached 352 across Turkey during the attempted coup. The consequences were even more grave: Erdogan used this 'gift', as he himself called it, to undermine democracy, to authorize mass arrests of dissidents, and to transform Turkey into a dictatorship.