The military coup attempt against the Turkish government over the weekend fell flat as a deeply divided nation stood united in solidarity. The rare display of unity, including opposition parties and media outlets critical of the government, has offered a glimmer of hope that Turkey’s long-standing polarization could be thawed to some extent. Yet any prospect of reconciliation and the fate of Turkey’s crippled democracy remain uncertain in the wake of the unrest, with the final say resting with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Just days before the botched coup attempt, a heavyweight member of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) had made a remarkable appeal, saying that fence-mending deals with Russia and Israel should be followed with efforts to heal internal rifts. “Now it’s time to multiply friends at home,” AKP co-founder and former parliament Speaker Cemil Cicek said in early July, referring to Ankara’s new slogan of “more friends, less enemies” in the region.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim lent support to Cicek’s appeal, pledging on several occasions to “expand the circle of friendship both at home and abroad.” The premier’s message was important, for he is known as a staunch Erdogan loyalist unlikely to utter anything the president disapproves of, and even less so to repeat it several times. Moreover, Erdogan — who has a record of publicly contradicting and embarrassing ministers who cross the line — kept silent on the issue, which seemed to suggest a tacit blessing.

In its 14-year rule under Erdogan’s leadership, the AKP has relied heavily on a policy of polarization, centered around an omnipresent “enemy” to be constantly fought and shown as a target to the party base. The “enemies” have varied. Today, chief among them are the followers of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, held responsible for the coup attempt and branded a terrorist organization after a 12-year comradeship with the AKP. At other times, they have been the Gezi Park protesters or Kurdish militants and politicians who were once the government’s partners in a “settlement process.” Opposition parties and critical media outlets have also taken their share of the onslaughts. This strategy has kept producing electoral victories for the AKP at the expense of alienating large segments of Turkish society, which remain highly demoralized, exasperated and gloomy over their future. In this context, the coup attempt has added to their gloom, exacerbating worries over democracy and the direction Turkey is heading.