Epic resistance in Istanbul

On Bosphorus Bridge, where crossing from Anatolia to the European side was blocked at the first hours of the coup attempt, a great opposition against the coup plotters began upon the call of President Erdoğan. When it was 01:40, putschist soldiers opened fire on the civilian citizens and police officers who are trying to block them. 6 civilians were martyred in the first fire by the coup plotters, including publicist Erol Olçok with his 16-year-old son Abdullah Tayyip Olçok. Citizens who gathered in front of the airport blocked 580 commandos, who set out to go to Ankara from the 11th Commando Brigade Command in Denizli’s Çardak District. To make sure that the jets could not be refueled, 11 tons of jet fuel at Çardak Jet Base Airfield Command was emptied in the field. Putschist soldiers who attempted to enter Türk Telecom Directorate in Kadıköy Acıbadem at 01:56 opened fire on the service vehicles passing by. At 01:59, passage of the putschist soldiers arriving at Sabiha Gökçen Airport were blocked by the citizens. After Sergeant Ferhat Daş, who was in a tank that arrived at the airport, learned about the coup attempt from the citizens, he said ‘We are not traitors’ and committed suicide at the scene. In the meantime, three of the five IT experts landing at Vodafone Arena by helicopter and a group of putschist soldiers entered TRT’s building in Ulus to cut off TRT and Digiturk broadcasts. A conflict broke between the police team deployed at the Mehmetçik Foundation and Tuzla Orhanlı toll booths on the TEM Highway and military school students from Istanbul. In the conflict, one police officer and 5 citizens were martyred. In the conflict, a putschist lieutenant leading the students died, while 13 police officers and 23 citizens were injured.