In the evening of 15 July 2016, a faction within the Turkish Armed Forces of 8500 soldiers, organized as the Peace at Home Council, attempted a coup d'état against state institutions, including the government and president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. They attempted to seize control of several places in Ankara, Istanbul, Marmaris and elsewhere, such as the Asian side entrance of the Bosphorus Bridge, but failed to do so after forces and civilians loyal to the state defeated them. The Council cited an erosion of secularism, elimination of democratic rule, disregard for human rights, and Turkey's loss of credibility in the international arena as reasons for the coup. The same night Erdogan stated that they had evidence the coup leaders were linked to the Gülen movement, which had over 2000 schools, hundreds of charities, and hospitals globally by 2015. Erdogan designated the movement as a terrorist organization in May 2016, citing the 2013 corruption scandal— which he described as a "judicial coup attempt" allegedly carried out by police officers linked to the movement— as justification. The Gulen movement was led by Fethullah Gülen, a Turkish businessman and a well-known Islamic scholar who lived in exile in Pennsylvania. The Turkish government alleged that Gülen was behind the coup and that the United States was harboring him. In response Gulen has called for an international commission to investigate the failed coup and said he would accept the findings if such a body found evidence of his guilt. In contrast, the Erdoğan government did not even agree to the proposal for a national parliamentary committee to investigate the events of 15 July.
Events surrounding the coup attempt and the purges in its aftermath reflect a complex power struggle between Islamist elites in Turkey.
