Timeline of Turkey's failed coup attempt

ISTANBUL

July 15      


10 p.m. - Shots are heard inside the General Staff headquarters in Ankara and a helicopter fires at people on the ground. Soldiers take control of state broadcaster TRT and the General Staff headquarters in Ankara as troops and tanks block the Bosphorus and Fatih Sultan Mehmet bridges linking Asia and Europe in Istanbul.      


11:24 p.m. - An explosion is heard at the police special operations center in Gölbaşı, south of Ankara.      


11:30 p.m. - Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım announces an “attempt to stage a coup” was happening during a live TV broadcast.      


11:30 p.m. - Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar is taken hostage by pro-coup soldiers.      




July 16      


12:05 a.m. - Security sources tell Anadolu Agency the coup attempt was being staged by officers with alleged links to U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, who is accused of leading a terrorist organization.        


12:11 a.m. - President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan leaves Marmaris, in Turkey’s southwest, for Atatürk International Airport in Istanbul.      


12:13 a.m. - A TRT news anchor is forced to read a declaration from coup leaders, who had named themselves the “Peace at Home Committee,” claiming to have taken control of the country. Erdoğan later addresses the country on CNN Türk via a mobile telephone, urging people to “take to the streets” to resist the coup and defend democracy.      



12:35 a.m. - The first investigation into the coup is launched by a prosecutor in Istanbul.      


1 a.m. - The Ankara police headquarters is attacked by jets and helicopters.      


1:39 a.m. - The first arrests of pro-coup soldiers are made.


2:20 a.m. - The Gölbaşı Police Special Forces Department headquarters is bombed by a pro-coup aircraft, killing 17 police officers and two personnel from satellite operator Turksat.      


2:30 a.m. – A total of 13 soldiers, including three senior officers, are held while attempting to enter the Presidential Palace in Ankara. A spokesman for the National Intelligence Agency (MİT) says the coup has been “thwarted.”      


2:42 a.m. – 2:49 a.m. - The Turkish parliament is targeted by jets and helicopters. More than 10 are injured in the bombing.



3 a.m. - TRT resumes broadcasting.      


3:20 a.m. - Erdoğan lands in Istanbul.      

3:23 a.m. – A military helicopter carrying two captains and 12 soldiers lands in the parking lot of the Doğan Media Center in Istanbul and enters the daily Hürriyet building adjacent to the Doğan TV Center. Soldiers forcefully take everyone out and intervene in CNN Türk broadcasts.



4 a.m. – The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office orders the arrests of members of the coup leadership.      

4:42 a.m. - Helicopters open fire on the hotel in Marmaris where Erdoğan had been staying. Five police are injured in a firefight with troops.      


5:10 a.m. – Police detain the soldiers who entered the Doğan Media Center building, as employees return to the building.




5:20 a.m. - Yıldırım tweets that 130 soldiers had been arrested and a rebel general had been killed.      


6:52 a.m. - 1st Army Commander Gen. Ümit Dündar is appointed as acting chief of staff in Gen. Akar’s absence.      



7:35 a.m. - More than 750 military personnel are held over coup allegations.      


8:32 a.m. - Gen. Akar is rescued from pro-coup forces.      


9:40 a.m. - 200 soldiers surrender to police in Ankara.      


9:46 a.m. - Treason charges are laid against retired Air Force Commander Gen. Akın Öztürk and Lt. Gen. Metin İyidil, commander of the Land Forces Training and Doctrine Command.      


9:58 a.m. - Judicial recess is cancelled.      


10:37 a.m. - Yıldırım announces that Gen. Akar is back on-duty.      


11:27 a.m. - Coup forces at General Staff headquarters ask to negotiate surrender. Three prosecutors later receive the surrender of the troops.


12:57 p.m. - Yıldırım announces that 161 people had been killed and 1,440 had been injured during the coup attempt and more than 2,800 military personnel involved in the “vile attempt” had been arrested.      


2:37 p.m. - 2,745 judges are suspended over alleged links to the coup attempt. A detention order is issued for all of them later in the day.      


5:00 p.m. – The Turkish parliament holds an extraordinary session, where ruling and opposition party leaders address lawmakers. A joint anti-coup declaration signed by all four parties in parliament is read out.




8:02 p.m. - An operation at Akıncı Air Base northwest of Ankara, which had served as the coup headquarters and where the top generals were held hostage, ends.