Coup attempt in Turkey

[LaCroix]

The '97 "coup" was remarkably bloodless.  They might have been banking on the same thing for this one.

maybe, but mass media has come a long way since then. it's so much easier to get a crowd going these days.

[Malicious Intent]

@MI

yeah, over a live stream, I saw a crowd stomp a soldier then shoot him in the head. the people rallied pretty well/quickly.

Nasty shit. But the AKP has a core of well organized and pretty fanatic supporters that were used in attacks on critical newspapers in the past (like Hürriyet in 2015). A colleague of mine with Turkish roots translated some of their chants back then. Stuff like "We'll die for Erdogan, we'll kill for Erdogan."

[mongers]

Al Jazerra showing live shots of Taksim square, only a few dozen, maybe 200 hundred people, otherwise largely deserted; lots of people standing on the sideline waiting to see what way the wind blows?

[Valmy]

Just heard on Euronews that Erdogan blames also Gülen for the coup.

Well that is just awesome. He has been bizarrely coming after my friends in Texas any way he can recently. This should only increase his paranoia.

[derspiess]

Obama backs the Islamist. Hmm...

[mongers]

More aerial bombing in Ankara, two more large explosions reported.

[Duque de Bragança]

Obama backs the Islamist. Hmm...

At last, proof that Obama is muslim! 

[Ed Anger]

I guess we'll wait until 2020 then.....

[OttoVonBismarck]

Hm, a Turkish reporter has said coup forces have shut down his newspaper, and it appears that the same forces shut down CNN Turk just a minute ago. It's odd that if the coup is reeling they'd be wasting resources on media outlets. Makes me wonder if we're in a weird place where the coup is too weak to succeed but too strong to just disappear. Even if it's just five of six hundred soldiers totally shutting them down could take a lot of killing and a lot of dead people all around.

[OttoVonBismarck]

While I don't like coups, and don't like Islamists (I'd be cool if all of them died in a horrifying way), I have to give props to the AKP supporters, they have balls of steel. Pictures of dudes laying down right in front of tank tracks to stop them from moving.

I cannot imagine the lambs that populate America doing jack shit to stop a military coup.

[jimmy olsen]

Hell of a thing to wake up to.

[OttoVonBismarck]

Gen. Wesley Clark on CNN saying the coup plotters made "a lot of mistakes—not arresting the president, not shutting off the internet..."

Heh, Wes is correct, but it's a little concerning a retired General is arm-chair quarterbacking a coup.

[mongers]

Hell of a thing to wake up to.

You should start a thread about it.   

[Valmy]

Obama backs the Islamist. Hmm...

Backing American interests.

[derspiess]

Gen. Wesley Clark on CNN saying the coup plotters made "a lot of mistakes—not arresting the president, not shutting off the internet..."

Heh, Wes is correct, but it's a little concerning a retired General is arm-chair quarterbacking a coup.

Hans would agree. Seedy thinks you're the devil.