[akie]

> The military and the judicial system had to be purged because a religious cult had colonized them

Ok, just so we're clear on this: that's ridiculous nonsense, conspiracy theories basically, but you're using it to justify the indefensible actions of a hard-line authoritarian ruler.

[chalst]

While I wouldn't call the Gulenist movement a cult, they certainly engaged in conspiracies. The irony was that their infiltration into the army and civil service was supported by Erdoğan earlier, as a counterweight to the Kemalist establishment.

Turkey is the country that the term "deep state" was coined to describe. I don't know what to believe about the so-called coup.

[zzuko]

Gulenist movement was certainly a cult, I live in Turkey and been to one of their school. I have the first-hand experience of their brainwashing methods and Gulenist indoctrination.

[woodpanel]

To me it always seemed like Gulen is the most internationally interviewed Turk for criticisms on Erdogan, whilst his own ideology doesn't seem so "modern" as well.

Would really appreciate If you could explain what Gulenism is about and particular where it differs from the Erdoganian Muslim Brotherhood ideology.

[Kaiyou]

Didn't the same thing happen in South Korea with the Prime Minister being a puppet of some cult or such? What he says doesn't sound far-fetched, just unsubstantiated at this point.

[duck2]

Claiming a coup attempt as staged looks more like a conspiracy theory to me. Luckily, that was dismissed by the head of German intelligence[0].

> “The coup attempt was not initiated by the government. Before July 15 the government had already started a big purge so parts of the military thought they should do a coup quickly before it hit them too,” Kahl said.

In [0], Kahl dismisses the possibility that the Gülen movement did the coup. However, he fails to mention which other group in the military "feared" the purge and was big enough to attempt a coup.

If you combine that with: - the 2010-11 purge of nationalist-modernists from the army was directed by Gülen people[1][2] (and supported by Erdoğan[3]) - all 4 military schools were totally infiltrated by Gülenists[4]

you would see that the Gülen movement was certainly in the army, and after the purge of nationalist-modernists, there was no other group in the Turkish army big enough and pissed off with the govt enough to attempt a coup. The testimonies of suspected army officers[5] mentioning Gülen is no surprise at this point.

When I see the purge of Gülen supporters to be generalized to Erdoğan opponents, something goes off in my mind. People who are against both Erdoğan and Gülen weren't targeted for that purge. If anything, they were trusted more than before, because many pro-Erdoğan people could get into state positions using Gülen connections pre-2013.

A good guestion to ask here is why did Erdoğan facilitate Gülen's infiltration of the institutions in the first place. As I mentioned above, it was because he feared a Kemalist coup or party shutdown. So, if Turkey didn't have the habit of "fending off populists with coups", none of this would happen. Or maybe it would?

All in all, what I'm trying to say is that the whole issue is more complex than "autocrat bad punish opponents".

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[0]: https://www.rt.com/news/381290-bnd-gulen-erdogan-coup/

[1]: http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/son-dakika-ergenekon-davas...

[2]: https://www.aa.com.tr/tr/15-temmuz-darbe-girisimi/balyoz-dav...

[3]: http://www.radikal.com.tr/politika/erdogan-evet-savciyiz-888...

[4]: https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/08/turkey-gu...

[5]: https://t24.com.tr/haber/15-temmuz-darbe-girisimi-ifadeleri-...