A 30-year-old Pakistani national was taken into custody in Istanbul on Friday after police persuaded him to come down from his car on the 15 July Martyrs Bridge, following negotiations that lasted about an hour and a half.
The incident took place at around 10:20 a.m. local time on 13 November, when the man stopped his car in the left lane of the bridge, which crosses the Bosphorus Strait and connects Istanbul’s European and Asian sides, and climbed onto its roof.
According to Turkish media reports, the man was holding Turkish and Pakistani flags in one hand and what appeared to be a handgun in the other, while an Israeli flag lay beneath his feet. He was also reported to have shouted slogans apparently directed against Israel.
Police and special operations units were dispatched to the bridge after motorists reported the incident. Officers established a security perimeter and introduced traffic restrictions as a precaution, while vehicles were redirected through the dedicated Metrobus corridor normally used by Istanbul’s bus rapid transit system.
The disruption initially brought traffic on the busy crossing to a standstill. The 15 July Martyrs Bridge is one of Istanbul’s main crossings over the Bosphorus and carries large numbers of vehicles every day, so the closure caused significant delays on both sides of the strait.
After approximately 90 minutes of negotiations, officers persuaded the man to surrender the weapon and climb down from the vehicle. He was subsequently taken into custody, his car was removed from the bridge, and the road was reopened to traffic.
Turkish media identified the man only by the initials M.N. and reported that he was 30 years old. No injuries were reported during the incident.
Turkish news agency Demirören News Agency, which first reported the incident, described it as a suicide attempt, while other reports described it as an armed protest against Israel. Authorities have not publicly clarified whether the weapon was a functioning firearm, and they have not given a detailed account of the man’s circumstances.
Subsequent Turkish media reports said the man had previously made two suicide attempts. A photograph circulated after the incident also showed a handwritten note reportedly recovered from the man, which referred to a psychological health report and medication, although its full contents and significance have not been independently established.
Police said the man remained in custody after being brought down from the car. Turkish media reports did not immediately clarify which legal provisions he might face or what personal circumstances were behind his actions, and unverified claims circulating on social media about the motive cannot be treated as established fact.
