Watching the Attempted Turkish Coup Unfold on Twitter

This developing story will be updated.

First came the images of bridges blocked by Turkish military, soldiers and trucks lining both byways over the Bosphorus in Istanbul. In America, Twitter exploded with speculation that something big was happening. Newspapers had nothing, and TV stations were mum as journalists on the ground scrambled to gather facts. Only Twitter, as is so often the case with breaking news, let the world know that tanks were rolling through street and jets were flying over cities.

And people watched. And waited.

Few had any idea what was happening. Soldiers told them to go home, saying, "there is curfew."

Warplanes flew low over the capital of Ankara.

With confirmed details scarce, Twitter did what it always does: It fell back upon speculation. People suggested it was a coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has pushed for more constitutional power. Others said there is no proof of that. It could be a response to terrorist threats, a country on high alert after recent attacks that include a deadly blast at the airport in Istanbul that killed 45 people on June 28.

Inevitably, the reports of Twitter and Facebook being blocked started coming, even as people continued tweeting.

YouTube apparently went offline, too.

Throttling social media is nothing new for Turkey under President Erdogan, which has censored journalists, and social media many times in recent years. "They appear to have implemented the standard Internet shutdown," Alp Toker, project coordinator of Turkey Blocks, told WIRED. "Everything about the political scenario is usual, but in terms of the Internet, it seems they’ve turned on the usual switches, albeit for a different purpose."

He said Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube were slowed to the point of being inaccessible.

TV news couldn't possibly keep up with social media—but it's worth repeating that journalists tend to confirm information before disseminating it.

Then it started to sound more and more like a coup.

Writer Zeynep Trufekci was in Turkey when the news started coming in. Just after 4, she tweeted that the prime minister was on television calling it an "insurgency."

At that point, it was clear a coup was underway, but the question remained: were the soldiers blocking bridges in Istanbul part of the coup, or the response to the coup? Who exactly was trying to overthrow the government?

The Mayor of Ankara urged everyone into the streets.

Then the military claimed victory. It released a statement in Turkish that some on Twitter quickly translated as saying, "Turkish Armed Forces have completely taken over the administration of the country to reinstate the constitutional order, democracy, human rights and freedoms."

Despite attempts to block social media, people managed to Periscope.

And even Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube came back.

Video showed a fire on the ground in Ankara.

The US State Department advised that some social media was working, but told people to use text or phone calls to reach out to loved ones.

Americans in Turkey were advised to shelter in place.

Reports came in that no one was able to leave the country.

And in fact, it was reported that President Erdogan was not in the country at the time of the attempted coup. A unnamed "senior US military source" said Erdogan was seeking asylum in Germany.

A Turkish news station reportedly under control of a group calling itself "Peace in the Country Council" published a statement from the group claiming responsibility for the coup.

Erdogan's whereabouts became a source of much speculation.

And then, as if to drive home what a weird world this is, suddenly his face was all over Twitter and TV, via Facetime on an iPhone. He reportedly called on citizens to defy the curfew and go out into the streets.

Minutes later, his official account sent a tweet, which a Turkish speaker tells WIRED translates to: "I invite our nation to take ownership of our democracy and national will, and to rush out to public squares and airports."

Worried Ankara residents flocked to gas stations.

And to ATMs.

The White House reportedly huddled.

Planes flying to Istanbul turned around.

By early evening on the East Coast in America, the video streaming in from Turkey showed chaos. A loud explosion was reported in Ankara.

Another video appeared to show a helicopter firing at people from the sky in Ankara. (Warning, it's upsetting.) The tweet translates roughly to "God damn you dishonorable dogs" or "dishonorable curs."

The military put the country under martial law. Three hours into the coup, its success was by no means guaranteed.

Turkish Parliament, like the president, relied on mobile technology to get their message on TV.

The US government released details of a call between President Obama and Secretary of State Kerry.

The AP reported that a helicopter had killed 17 police officers in Ankara. It was unclear if it was the helicopter shown in the video above.

Reports suggested that the earlier explosion heard in Ankara was that helicopter being shot down.

Four and a half hours after the coup first started, reports flooded in that Erdogan's government, with the help of supportive citizens, appeared to be repelling the insurgency.

Video showed pro-Erdogan crowds overtaking tanks.

But it was far from clear if the sitting government was actually winning. Just before 8pm ET in America, a Turkish news agency reported a bomb had struck the parliament building in Ankara.

Around 8:20pm ET, the Editor-in-Chief of Haaretz newspaper tweeted that President Erdogan had landed at Istanbul's Ataturk airport. Other news agencies quickly followed suit.

Though it was 4am in Turkey, throngs of people remained out in Istanbul, supporting their president's call to take to the streets.

President Erdogan appeared and said the coup was a gift from God to clean up the military.

People started using the hashtag #failedcoup, even as the fight in Ankara seemed to rage on.

On social media, all people could do was watch.

Andy Greenberg, Kim Zetter, Brian Barrett, and Nate Goldman contributed reporting.