we'll have the latest on the attack here tomorrow on nbc nightly news and msnbc. i'm lester holt reporting from nice. for all of us at nbc news, good night. we are back and what a day, what a night it has been in turkey, an attempt at a coup and that is really all we can call it until we have proof to the contrary. this was the scene near one of the major bridges in istanbul when gunfire rang out and civilians who had rushed the bridge after the military had closed the bridge got apparently too close to one of the checkpoints and gunfire rang out. actually that is also where we saw some of the wounded getting taken by taxi cab out of there.

then there was this. television station trt was taken over by citizens. after they received a message fromer from euardin. they were talking to people over the cable airwaves while surrounded by and many times trying to quiet down and shush this mob. the airport was the sight of a lot of activity. he mentioned people -- urging people to go to the airport and in effect make it safe for his return. look at this, this is airport security. they're walking through the metal detectors out to the domestic terminal, also the airport where you may recall

recently 45 deaths in that grisly bombing. there was a flash mob, a crowd scene tonight. then there was an emergency session of parliament, not a full house but some members present when this happened. a huge explosion. there was other video that happened to be aimed at the exterior of parliament during that moment. we don't know if it was a bomb or incoming tank round. then we saw him, erdogan, the president, had been on vacation at the black sea. he came back to the airport, landed at istanbul where we're told the problem was people on the runways and taxiways

awaiting his return. he gave two different statements to the press, one kind of on the fly and another in a more formal setting where he called the coup a gift from god. why? because he went on to say this exposed the fissures in society, exposed many members of the military. he addressed members of the military, saying in effect you are our sons, in a nation where they are conscripts, where military is a part of the right of citizenship. so that is where we stand. we have seen day break now in turkey. it is safe to say no one in the population centers has been to sleep yet overnight. there is a tired nation. we have military equipment all offer the landscape. it started out in the hands of

the military. some of it has ended up, as you can see, in the hands of police or civilians. a lot of it has been idled and not all of it was operated the way it was intended. the big worry, aircraft, like f-16s that were in the hands of military, f-16s we learned from erdogan tonight bombed the location where he was on vacation not knowing he had already left on his way back to istanbul. let's bring in a smart person to talk to to explain all of this, happens to be david phillips, former senior adviser to the u.s. department of state. he worked extensively on issues concerning turkey. welcome to you. >> thank you, brian. >> what do you make of this and what should americans know about what we witnessed overseas? >> it's a deeply destabilizing event no matter what the outcome. it's going to send shockwaves through turkey which is also

suffering from terrorism and its own civil war with the pkk and the kurds. it further casts a shadow over the u.s./turkey relationship which has already been threatened by erdogan's support for isis and his anti-democratic, islamist, anti-nato rhetoric. >> how much of turkey's problems, modern turkey, are turkey's fault and how much of it is because they're if a bad neighborhood? >> they are in a rough neighborhood, no doubt about that. they implemented a policy called zero problems with neighbors. and within a year or two, they found themselves in conflict with every single neighbor. but we should be clear that the military launched this coup because they wanted to restore constitutional rights and preserve the secular nature of the turkish state. a coup is not the right means to accomplish those goals. but turkey has become authw ath

therri therrien. these events will enbolden erdogan if in fact he preserves his presidency and he's likely to crack down even further. so there's deep concern about turkey's future. >> do you agree with this popular view that his current political hero is putin? >> they're cut from the same cloth. they clearly believe in consolidating power within an executive presidency. ultimately erdogan's goal is called constitutional reform but it's about rewriting the constitution so that the president has paramount authorities. no checks and balances, erdogan wants to rival as turkey's greatest leader and to be in power when turkey celebrates its centennial in 2023. he's taking turkey down a very

dangerous path. >> the great writer and war correspondent dexter filkins said in this very building and on this very network tonight that as populous go, he's a huey long figure. >> so that's a good comparison. he's huey long with a sharp dagger. it's clear from the statement he gave at the airport that he is going to seek retribution from the coup plotters. there will be a witch hunt in turkey. there will be show trials and the rule of law will be further integrated. >> executions, imprisonments, that sort of thing? >> executions imply that there is no process. let's wait and see. there will clearly be a vendetta. this idea that a cleric from pennsylvania masterminded the whole thing, he's surrounded by terrorists, journalists, kurds.

erdogan feels they are threats and he'll do what is necessary to neutralize them. >> erdogan comes back to power, let's assume for the sake of this conversation, does all the things you've been talking about and as i said to the former state department spokeswoman, the u.s. wakes up every day now and will worry about turkey. >> ever since the ghezzi park crackdown in 2013 when erdogan ordered the police to brutalize a civilian population, the u.s. government has been waking up worried about turkey. the collusion between the jihadi highway, the provision of weapons, of money, of medical care for wounded islamic state fighters, turkish hospitals are all well known to u.s. officials. all causes for deep concern. the reality is turkey is a nato

ally. it has been a treasured nato ally but no longer. turkey needs to be judged by what it does, not by what it says. we'll have a lot more information from erdogan based on his response to these events. >> final question has to do with a huge piece of real estate that most americans don't wake up thinking about either and that's incirlik which has never been more important. >> incirlik is an air force base near adonna, 60 kilometers from the syrian border. when we asked turkey to sign up with a multinational coalition and allow use of incirlik, they spent almost a year dragging their feet. they finally signed a deal allowing u.s. warplanes to attack isis from incirlik. they used the base itself to launch strikes against kurdish civilians. to erdogan, counterterrorism is about killing kurds, not about going after isis who are his

comrades. >> thank you so much. we owe a huge debt to you and all your colleagues who have come on the air tonight and helped us explain what we've been witnessing in these pictures on the left-hand side of the screen all evening. these are momentous world events as was what happened in nice, france last night. what we thought we would be covering tonight, terrible terrorist attack. david phillips, thank you. >> thank you. we have another guest joining us by telephone, a member of the akp istanbul administration journalist. we just lost the phone connection. that has been happening. we've been up front about this all night long. we've had journalists themselves warn us that phone calls have just lasted a minute or two because of the strain on communications. so instead, we'll take a break and regroup our live coverage will continue on the other side. get ready for the rio olympic games

by switching to xfinity x1. show me gymnastics. x1 lets you search by sport, watch nbc's highlights and catch every live event on your tv with nbc sports live extra. i'm getting ready. are you? x1 will change the way you experience nbcuniversal's coverage of the rio olympic games. call or go online today to switch to x1. firing into the air. the crowd -- it's the noise and

the gunfire. >> this was on facebook live tonight. a form of media new to a lot of americans and one, sadly, that came to prominence with the police-involved shooting in minnesota long before this conflict we're covering tonight. i've just been handed from our interpreter who is listening to turkish language coverage the following facts. she says turkish airlines claims they will start flying again at 6:00 a.m. local time in ankara -- i would assume this is ankara and istanbul. it is hard to imagine that the airport in istanbul is going to be up and enjoying normal flight operations after what we saw there overnight. tanks and military vehicles in that central circular structure as you enter, people just

flowing freely through the terminal, through the domestic terminal, the area where there were 45 dead in a bombing a few weeks back and out on to the tarmac and runways. again, this is their claim, that they'll be flying again, scheduled service. according to the prime minister, 130 turkish soldiers have been taken into custody. one general is dead. here's the airport. that's security. now, these are not departing passengers going to flights. these are people who came out, we were told, in support of erdogan and to kind of hasten his departure from the airport to welcome him back. erdogan was photographed on the tarmac. we're back to, apparently, live pictures at 6:15 a.m. so by this claim there's commercial service starting up

again, we just don't believe it. according to the chief public prosecutor, the death toll in ankara is 42. the death toll across turkey is 60. again, cal perry, i just have to say, partly it's my job, i don't believe any of these numbers. >> no, no, no, everything is fine in turkey, the airport is open and everything is back to normal. this is the same thing they did after that horrendous attack when 42 people were killed at the airport. they opened it the next day. it's a sign to the world that turkey is a stable country. for erdogan this is going to be a priority going forward. i'm interested in this one general dead. if you're going to take a shot at the king, you better make it a head shot. what happens now? what happens in the military now? we heard initially this was midlevel commanders, colonels behind this coup attempt. it will be interesting to see how far up the chain of command this goes and what the cleaning of the house is that take place now.

but that airport is going to need to be begun over with a fine tooth comb. you saw people just walking through security. flights are not going to take off from that airport until they make sure that it is secure. >> western carriers are going to completely object until they get a clean bill of health. >> this is one of those point of departures directly to the u.s. that airport has to follow the very same regulation hs that airports here do. we saw some of the baggage handlers and security being escorted out, before then this happened, before then, civilians in the city took this airport back so the president could land. >> the only thing i was happy with, there was no -- that i saw, i was watching these airport pictures, i guess tonight, night in turkey. there was no destruction of property. they're using the moving sidewalk there. >> right. what a strange night. >> yes.

>> if you live in istanbul, this was really a historically bizarre experience. it began with the army saying martial law is in place, return to your homes and don't come out. we've gone into a state of emergency. >> and social media is down. >> and social media is down. >> then to the government appears on social media to call for his sporers to come and basically rescue him by allowing him to land at the airport. you're sitting at home, state tv is on, it's off, it's on, it's off, then you decide to go into the streets. i think it was the decision to go into the streets where the agitators and the military realize this is not going to work. those are words the military uses. these young army soldiers now surrounded by thousands of people unable to move, unable to go anywhere an unwilling to do

what it tooks for a coup to be successful, which is put the president in jail or kill him and then make sure that people stay in their homes until you've gained command and control. >> when civilians are stealing out of the back of your deuce and a half, the shields meant for you that they want to use against you and when you're outnumbered and can't make your way through a crowd. >> some riot shields against a crowd, a mob of people that are going to crush that truck. there's this great video of people taking the door off the side. >> i saw that. >> of these truckses. >> if the door is not able to latch in some meaningful way, that's not a good sign for your coup. >> do we have diane again? okay. diane on the phone from istanbul, national security reporter for "the wall street journal." we're occupying all of your time tonight. i'm chiefly curious, since you're there and we're not, what turkish media have you seen? what have you observed with your own two eyes?

and is your answer about momentum the same as it was an hour ago? >> yes. i'd say the momentum still seems to be with the president as you were talking about, these remarkable scenes, people taking to the streets and swarming the airport and greeting him and welcoming him and challenging soldiers and tanks. it's a remarkable evening in turkey. the streets here near taksim square and instan bull are still empty. we do still hear sporadic explosions, both gunfire and louder things from across the city. you know, it's not clear exactly who has control. it does seem that the coup plotters are fighting for their lives and they haven't quite given up yet. >> when was the last low-level pass you heard of -- breaking away from our

programming, we want to take you to ankara, turkey, where the turkey prime minister yildirim is talking. let's take a listen. >> translator: i would like to thank all of the government members, all the citizens who went outside with their flags and who was against this parallel state structure and who stand by. i kiss all of you on your forehead and i thank you for protecting your turkish flag and going against the terrorist powers and you gave the best answer to them. july 15th is now on our mark of

democracy and our celebration day. the public wants these plotters to be punished. we will remember who lost their lives in this coup. the police officers, the citizens, military members and all the followers. turkish public has very strong will power for democracy. and we wish god to give them patience to -- it will be considered in every step of government decisions. this loss will not be looked over easily. we showed we have strong democratic beliefs and that belief will balance all levels

of government. and they are not against the army, this shows we have strong unity and togetherness against parallel state structure. who betrayed the nation state will not go unpunished. all politicians restructured armed forces, police organizations and justice system has to work hand in hand. our very special commanders will be celebrated. at the same time, from the moment it occurred, our citizens went outside and filled up the streets to show their belief in

democracy. i'd like to thank all the politicians and also all the restructured armed fors who put their lives in france and all the police organizations deserves a very big thank. i thank all of you on behalf of government. our dear citizens. what we just experienced was attempt to murder against constitutional institutions. and it has failed. and turkish citizens and turkish government proved that they have strong beliefs and strong experience to protect the democracy and how we are free government and we will stay

free. we show that to the whole world, especially when the bridges were blocked, when the tanks were trying to attack the buildings and the citizens stopped them with their bodies and their flags and their hands and so many citizens died trying to protect our government. it has end forever in turkey, therefore, we'd like to thank all the governments, all the other countries who helped us and who supported us and who were behind us. we would like to thank. dear brothers, turkish

government shows they inherit the principles of democracy and the law. we have the power to democracy will win. they will be seriously clinching in the army as a result of this action. yes. our government, our country show big, strong they were strong and they showed their power and we stopped democracy to be canceled. therefore, whoever took this attempt, they understood one more time nobody will be able to affect the democracy in this

country. nobody will be able -- >> turkish prime minister binali yildirim making statements there, following a night of unrest. the tanks rolled through the too he, a night of gunfire explosions as well leaving 90 people dead and at least over 1,000 people injured. i'm francis rivera, stay with msnbc for the very latest.

good morning, coming up on msnbc's "your business," how did this thrill seeker find the time to pursue his adrenaline fueled adventures and run a successful business? the ceo of the cheese cake factory talks about the importance of trying new things. plus, what you need to know about making partnerships work. we have advice to help you run your small business, coming up next on "your business."