The coup that wasn't — until it became Erdogan's ultimate power move.
The night of July 15, 2016 changed the history of Turkey. On that day there were coordinated attacks by parts of the Turkish army, among others in Istanbul. The aim of the military: a coup against the government. The decisive confrontation occurred on the Bosporus Bridge. While President Erdogan was still on vacation, live at TV he called on the people who were devoted to him to stand against the military. As an enemy for the masses, he presented his adversary Fethullah Gülen, whom he branded as the coup leader. He also urged the imams of the country's mosques to condition the population to resist. And so it happens that at night thousands of agitated people take to the streets to oppose the armed insurgents. The death toll was high. 352 people died across Turkey during the attempted coup. The consequences are even more serious: Erdogan used this gift, as he called it himself, to undermine democracy, to arrange mass arrests of dissidents and to transform Turkey into a dictatorship.
Editing
Juxtaposing live TV chaos with methodical aftermath analysis.
Direction
Dündar builds unbearable tension from real-time phone footage.
Director
Can Dündar
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Director Can Dündar fled Turkey in 2016 after publishing footage of Turkish intelligence smuggling arms to Syria; he directed this in exile in Germany.
The bridge was renamed '15 July Martyrs Bridge' within weeks — this documentary captures how quickly official narratives crystallize into concrete and steel.
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