For context: wince the foundation of the Turkish Republic in 1923, there have been periodic military coups, notably in 1960, 1980, and 1997. The army's stated purpose has always been to 'preserve the constitution and democracy', as it is this time. While I'm not in favor of the use of violent force to unseat a democratically elected government, the current government in Turkey is anything but. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Prime Minister from 2003 to 2014 and President since, has taken many pages out of the Putin playbook, turning the liberal, cosmopolitan Turkey (my former home) into an oppressive, corrupt dictatorship. He has jailed opponents, waged war on minorities, funneled money and arms to extremist groups in Iraq and Syria, built himself a palace worthy of a Sultan, changed the constitution, and vowed to keep himself in power until at least 2023 if not longer.
His party, the AKP, lost its majority in the democratic elections of June 2015, which were largely seen as a referendum on Erdogan's constitutional changes, designed to create an 'executive presidency' that would consolidate Erdogan's power (the Presidency had largely been a ceremonial role, as it is in most parliamentary democracies). The natural outcome of such an election should have been a coalition government and no executive presidency - but Erdogan refused to let his party compromise with any other, and instead called snap elections for November. He spent the ensuing months destabilizing the country by attacking the Kurdish minority in the southeast and stirring up trouble in Syria, provoking retaliatory attacks in Ankara and Istanbul. The elections in November delivered the AKP their majority again, in results that were widely considered suspicious if not outright rigged. In May of this year, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu refused to rubber stamp Erdogan's increasingly dictatorial demands and was forced to resign. His replacement is an Erdogan lackey.
It's too soon to tell who is behind the coup, and how likely it is to succeed. If it doesn't, I fear for the country as it will be mean further curtailment of freedoms, more violence, and economic destabilization. Like with the Reichstag fire, I doubt there will be enough proof to show it's a false flag operation for Erdogan to consolidate power, but I certainly wouldn't put it past him.
Dunno but something seems a bit off to me. How did they have a list of 2,745 judges to purge and 140 appeals court members to arrest the next morning? You'd think it'd take some time to figure that stuff if they hadn't been planning it.
Yes, I'm afraid your country has just become a full-fledged dictatorship -- of the modern pseudo-democratic "Russia-style" sort, of course. Very sad. :(
For context: wince the foundation of the Turkish Republic in 1923, there have been periodic military coups, notably in 1960, 1980, and 1997. The army's stated purpose has always been to 'preserve the constitution and democracy', as it is this time. While I'm not in favor of the use of violent force to unseat a democratically elected government, the current government in Turkey is anything but. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Prime Minister from 2003 to 2014 and President since, has taken many pages out of the Putin playbook, turning the liberal, cosmopolitan Turkey (my former home) into an oppressive, corrupt dictatorship. He has jailed opponents, waged war on minorities, funneled money and arms to extremist groups in Iraq and Syria, built himself a palace worthy of a Sultan, changed the constitution, and vowed to keep himself in power until at least 2023 if not longer.
His party, the AKP, lost its majority in the democratic elections of June 2015, which were largely seen as a referendum on Erdogan's constitutional changes, designed to create an 'executive presidency' that would consolidate Erdogan's power (the Presidency had largely been a ceremonial role, as it is in most parliamentary democracies). The natural outcome of such an election should have been a coalition government and no executive presidency - but Erdogan refused to let his party compromise with any other, and instead called snap elections for November. He spent the ensuing months destabilizing the country by attacking the Kurdish minority in the southeast and stirring up trouble in Syria, provoking retaliatory attacks in Ankara and Istanbul. The elections in November delivered the AKP their majority again, in results that were widely considered suspicious if not outright rigged. In May of this year, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu refused to rubber stamp Erdogan's increasingly dictatorial demands and was forced to resign. His replacement is an Erdogan lackey.
It's too soon to tell who is behind the coup, and how likely it is to succeed. If it doesn't, I fear for the country as it will be mean further curtailment of freedoms, more violence, and economic destabilization. Like with the Reichstag fire, I doubt there will be enough proof to show it's a false flag operation for Erdogan to consolidate power, but I certainly wouldn't put it past him.