The Turkish media played a critical role in the abortion of the coup attempt on the evening of July 15, 2016. This is, in fact, clearly seen in the Whatsapp messages of the plotters who emphasized over and over again that public media broadcasts must be cut off.
To this end, they took over the state-run TV (TRT) and forced the anchorwoman to read the coup declaration. However, it is not possible to achieve a coup d’état merely by taking over a state media organ in this age of technology. At this point, the attitudes of other media institutions became important. In fact, the Turkish media did not obey the plotters’ order to “broadcast the coup declaration on other TVs as well.”
[Politics Today, July 26, 2016]
