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On the night of the failed military coup, Istanbul’s towering bridges hosted hellish scenes of chaos and bloodshed, as ordinary Turks — in stunning acts of bravery and defiance — poured into the streets to halt a violent army takeover of the country’s civilian government.
But by dawn, the once-menacing soldiers who had seized key roads and infrastructure just hours before, could be seen surrendering to police on those same bridges, their hands in the air as they stood in the early-morning light. More masses of triumphant citizens, gleeful that the government had prevailed, came out to gawk at stalled armored vehicles and take selfies with the police who had put down the unpopular putsch.
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The police officers, for their part, basked in the glory as city residents treated them like heroes. In the crowded Istanbul district of Uskudar, a young boy with a Turkish flag posed for a photograph with riot police in front of an armored vehicle seized in the counter-coup.
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