A student living in Istanbul who wish to remain anonymous told RFE/RL that watching Erdogan speak to the nation via a mobile phone screen was "horrifying."
"Seeing him speaking on an iPhone on a private channel like CNN Turk was horrifying. At that moment, I understood something was wrong," said Kirman, 26.
He said he and his brother stocked up on supplies like water and pasta, withdrew money from an ATM, and returned home prepared to hunker down for three days.
But by 5 a.m., he said he understood the coup attempt had failed because he saw rebellious soldiers were withdrawing from the Bosphorus bridge.
Kirman said unlike in bombing attacks, he had no problem accessing Facebook or Twitter while the government repelled attempts by mutineers to take over the country.
"The government shuts down those kind of things when something happens in the way they don’t want to," he said. "In this situation, they wanted the public to see and observe what is happening."
-- Daniella Cheslow
From our news desk: Turkey Tells Bulgaria No Fresh Flood Of Refugees After Failed Coup
Bulgarian Prime Minister Boko Borisov says Turkey has reopened border crossing with Bulgaria after closing them in the early hours of July 16 in the midst of an attempted military coup.
Borisov said after meeting with Turkey’s ambassador in Sofia on July 16 that there had not been any signs of an increase in refugee flows into Bulgaria following the coup attempt.
Borisov said Turkey’s government also had given assurances that the border would not be overwhelmed with a fresh flood of refugees and had agree to bolster their border controls in the days ahead.
Refugee camps in Turkey that host more than three million people from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan were reported to be calm on July 16.
Nevertheless, Bulgaria sent an additional 230 troops to the border with Turkey on July 16 to patrol the border, where a fence already has been built to stop illegal crossing from Turkey.
And here's Kerry on Gulen:
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says the United States would consider an extradition request for the exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen after Turkey's president blamed the Muslim leader for an attempted Turkish military coup.
But Kerry said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government would have to present evidence of Gulen's wrongdoing that withstands scrutiny.
Gulen, once an ally of Erdogan, is now his political opponent of the Turkish president who lives in exile in Pennsylvania.
The 75-year-old Gulen has condemned the coup and vigorously denied any involvement, saying “it is especially insulting to be accused of having any link to such an attempt."
Turkey’s Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on July 16 that countries which support Gulen would be considered enemies of Turkey.
While visiting Luxembourg on July 16, Kerry said Turkey had not requested Gulen’s extradition.
But he said he expects questions from Anakara about Gulen.
Based on reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP