This thread is probably going to wind up being the containment thread for that subject because of it.
Given that this is an event of legitimate importance to some people here (albeit an off topic subject for HN) I would personally encourage people to leave this specific thread alone and hide it rather than flag it, since it's flown under the radar (and every other thread is bound to be flagged to oblivion.)
What's the rationale behind flagging stories like this? While it may be off-topic as tech news, in my eyes the HN community is quite cosmopolitan and threads like these usually end up being quite interesting and informative for me.
Being off-topic is reason enough. Purely political stories like this can overwhelm the site if not dealt with quickly. Hacker News just isn't the proper venue for mainstream news.
"Updated May 15, 2016 7:37 p.m. ET". What's weird is that we're discussing a two months-old article on current events. I suppose it's useful background knowledge...
I'm less scared of a coup than I am of Erdogan turning into a Putinesque figure. I know strongmen are fashionable right now, but I don't really like that trend.
The military and old elite in Turkey are very corrupt, but they've never squashed freedom of press the same way Erdogan has. If you believe in personal liberty, the military is actually better than the democratically elected strongman, however absurd that sounds.
Isn't Erdogan noturious for consolidating his power by putting his people in all branches of government including the military?
Is all of the military loyal to the coup makers?
If the connections between Erdogan and Islamic State are real; then ousting Erdogan through a coup sends more powerful people, money, public sympathy in the way of IS.
The Wikipedia page for the 1997 one is bordering between hilarious and amazing:
> At the National Security Council (MGK) meeting on 28 February 1997, the generals submitted their views on issues regarding secularism and political Islam on Turkey to the government. The MGK made several decisions during this meeting, and Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan from the Welfare Party was forced to sign the decisions, some of which were:
* Eight years of primary school education
* Shutting down many religious schools opened during his term
* Abolition of Tarikats (sectarian groups)
I'd be expecting those demands from a liberal group, not the military! :)
A.k.a. the most well armed constitutional court on the planet.
Given the rate at which Erdogan has supposedly already replaced kemalists in the military leadership, i wonder if this might actually be a false flag operation to lure the last remaining critics into the light and in front of courts. That would certainly be an effective way to finally break any risk of armed defense of the constitution.
and the US supposedly keeps nukes on Turkish soil at the Incirlik air base, as part of its NATO role.
it seems incredibly unwise to me, given its a Muslim country bordering ISIS, Syria, Iraq. and its a Muslim country with a known history of coups. a messy/failed coup attempt could degrade into a civil war, or, continuing anarchy. in such a situation, I can picture scenarios where the US nukes at Incirlik fall into the hands of... people who may wish us harm. For example, ISIS or another terror group.
I think the US gov does lots of dangerously irresponsible things, this is just the latest example of one of them being brought into sharp focus.