Story highlights
- Attempted coup throws Turkey into disarray
- Bastion of security in Muslim world once again seen as teetering on the brink
(CNN)The attempted military coup Friday night in Istanbul comes as a shock, perhaps most of all to Turks themselves.
It's the latest worrying example of deteriorating stability in a country that a few years ago was being promoted to the wider Muslim world as a model of democratic governance and economic prosperity.
Some 14 years after the political party of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan swept to power in elections, Turkey once again teeters on the brink.
Turkey has a long history of military coups 00:56
Battles on two fronts
Today, the Turkish government is simultaneously battling two deadly terrorist organizations -- ISIS and the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
Just last month, the government accused ISIS of carrying out the deadly triple suicide bombing at Istanbul's Ataturk International Airport.
Meanwhile, the 30-year guerrilla war between the Turkish state and Kurdish militants reignited, flaring across the predominantly Kurdish southeast of the country.
Society is widely polarized between people who love or loathe Erdogan. Security services routinely use force to crush attempts at public protests against the government. Human rights groups constantly criticize the government for the arrest of critical journalists.
The violence has taken its toll on the tourism industry and the value of the country's currency.
Military role
However, amid the many challenges roiling the country, the military had not been seen as a threat.
Generals were accustomed to playing a dominant role in the Turkish state, after carrying out four military coups from 1950 to 2000. During the first years of his reign, Erdogan often clashed with top commanders.
Several years into the Erdogan era, the government began arresting and prosecuting hundreds of generals and admirals as part of wide-ranging investigations into alleged coup plots.
Supporters argued Erdogan was the first Turkish leader to put the military in its place beneath the elected civilian leadership.
By May 2016, the once frosty relationship between politicians and uniformed officers had transformed - the military's top commander even attended the wedding of Erdogan's daughter.
Photos: Failed military coup in Turkey
Police try to stop people from attacking a judge, suspected in the failed coup plot, in Erzurum, Turkey on Tuesday, July 19. Turkey has fired or suspended about 50,000 people as the government intensifies a crackdown following last weekend's failed coup attempt. Teachers, journalists, police and judges have been affected.
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Police escort Turkish soldiers, accused of taking part in the attempted coup, as they leave a courthouse in Istanbul's Bakirkoy neighborhood on Saturday, July 16.
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Turkish police officers cover the eyes of soldiers as they are transported in a bus from the courthouse in Istanbul on July 16.
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Akin Ozturk, front row, center, a four-star general and former commander of the Turkish air force, is among those in police custody whom President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government has accused of having led the failed coup attempt.
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In a mass detention in Ankara, dozens of detainees are forced to kneel, partially stripped.
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A man waves a Turkish flag from a car roof during a July 16 march around Kizilay Square in Ankara after the attempted military coup.
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Damaged vehicles are abundant outside the presidential palace in Ankara on July 16.
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People kick and beat a Turkish soldier suspected in the attempted coup on Istanbul's Bosphorus Bridge on July 16.
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Women react after people took over a military position on the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul.
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People gather outside the Turkish Parliament in Ankara during an extraordinary session after the failed coup attempt.
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Turkey Prime Minister Binali Yildirim addresses the Turkish Parliament after the failed coup attempt.
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A protester rests on a bench as smoke billows from the Turkish military headquarters in Ankara.
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People stand under a huge Turkish flag during a march around Kizilay Square in Ankara in reaction to the attempted coup.
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Members of the Turkish military surrender on Istanbul's Bosphorus Bridge on after a failed coup attempt.
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People protesting against the coup wave a Turkish flag on top of a monument in Istanbul's Taksim Square.
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Clothes and weapons belonging to soldiers involved in the coup attempt are scattered on Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul.
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A Turkish police officer in Istanbul embraces a man on a tank in the wake of the violence overnight.
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Smoke billows from the direction of the Presidential Palace in Ankara on July 16.
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People gather on top of a Turkish military tank in Ankara in the morning after the coup attempt. National intelligence officials said the coup was put down and that the government remains in control.
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Turkish people wave national flags from a car in Istanbul.
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People gather around a car damaged by a tank in Kizilay Square early on July 16.
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People take to the streets near the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge during clashes with military forces in Istanbul.
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People escape the clashes in Ankara early Saturday.
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Tanks move into position as Turkish citizens attempt to stop them in Ankara.
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Citizens in Sivas rush to the streets during the chaotic coup attempt.
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A man approaches Turkish military with his hands up at the entrance to the partially closed Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul.
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A wounded man is given medical care at the entrance to the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul after clashes with Turkish military.
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People react in front of the Justice and Development Party's headquarters in Karabuk.
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Soldiers secure an area as supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan protest in Istanbul's Taksim Square.
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Turkish military members make their way through the streets of Istanbul.
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Supporters of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan protest in front of soldiers in Istanbul's Taksim Square.
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President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks on CNN Turk via a FaceTime call in Istanbul after members of the country's military attempted to overthrow the government.
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Turkish soldiers block Istanbul's iconic Bosphorus Bridge.
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Turkish security officers detain police officers, seen in black, in Istanbul, during a security shutdown on the Bosphorus Bridge.
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A military airplane is seen flying over Turkey. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged people to take to the streets and stand up to the military.
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People take cover near the Bosphorus Bridge as military airplanes fly overhead.
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Turkish soldiers are seen on the Asian side of Istanbul.
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A Turkish security officer stands guard on the side of the road.
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Turkish soldiers block Istanbul's Bosphorus Bridge.
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This weekend's deadly violence in Istanbul and Ankara involving tanks, fighter planes and attack helicopters point to deep discontent within some ranks in the military.
During the tumultuous first hours of the attempted coup, Erdogan vowed to purge the military of traitorous elements.
"We will maintain our position until the end and all these tanks will go back to where they came from," he said during an appearance before journalists in the predawn hours Saturday.
He successfully mustered large crowds of supporters who took to the streets in cities across the country and in some cases confronted soldiers carrying out the coup.
In a sign of how little apparent public support the coup plotters have, even long-standing critics of the Erdogan government have publicly condemned the plot.
All three main opposition parties represented in Parliament -- which was reportedly bombed by aircraft -- came out to denounce the plot.
