Coup attempt in Turkey

[Razgovory]

Question:  Why is it "Islamist"?  Have announced a theocracy?  Forced religious conversions? Mandatory mosque attendance?  Why don't you break it down for me.

[Monoriu]

Worst coup ever.

Yeah.  I mean, I am no expert on coups, but even I know that one of the first things they should have done was to arrest the president.  That they didn't do it is baffling. 

[Admiral Yi]

Obama backs the Islamist. Hmm...

Bro, I think you and I have a history here.  I think I got some Republican cred.  So I feel justified in telling you you might be jumping the shark this election.

[Admiral Yi]

Question:  Why is it "Islamist"?  Have announced a theocracy?  Forced religious conversions? Mandatory mosque attendance?  Why don't you break it down for me.

An Islamist is someone who is willing to commit violence to fulfill what he conceives to be the will of Allah.

[Valmy]

Hey, at least a lot of people died, that should make you guys a little happy.

Well at least Raz can do a victory dance about this.

I dread the implications of this.

[Tonitrus]

Yeah...while I doubt the earlier suggestion that it was a "Reichstag Fire" kinda plot, a lot of the fallout will likely be the same nonetheless. 

[Josquius]

So it failed. That's an anti climax.

That it was a erdogan conspiracy seems to be a strong view in turkey.

[Tonitrus]

Worst coup ever.

Yeah.  I mean, I am no expert on coups, but even I know that one of the first things they should have done was to arrest the president.  That they didn't do it is baffling.

This is looking like enough of a fiasco, that even if they got Erdo, I think they'd still fail, just a bit bloodier (including a likely dead Erdo), but with his cronies and sympathetic generals still coming out on top.

[OttoVonBismarck]

Erdogan has a cult of personality going, if the coup had failed but killed him in the process I'd probably still view that as a net win.

To be honest I do question NATO's position with Turkey, we've never had an openly fascist NATO country and now we will. I mean Turkish membership in NATO has had a ton of geopolitical advantages but if it becomes an alliance in which we're bound to defend a fascist country from attack it just leads me back to questioning the value of NATO going forward--something I already question given most European states do not take NATO obligations seriously and just view it as a mechanism to get guaranteed American protection.

[Monoriu]

Erdogan has a cult of personality going, if the coup had failed but killed him in the process I'd probably still view that as a net win.

To be honest I do question NATO's position with Turkey, we've never had an openly fascist NATO country and now we will. I mean Turkish membership in NATO has had a ton of geopolitical advantages but if it becomes an alliance in which we're bound to defend a fascist country from attack it just leads me back to questioning the value of NATO going forward--something I already question given most European states do not take NATO obligations seriously and just view it as a mechanism to get guaranteed American protection.

The alternative is to kick Turkey out of the alliance, so that they can join Russia?  Why can't you have a fascist NATO country? 

[OttoVonBismarck]

Join Russia in what? This isn't the Cold War. The biggest value Turkey ever offered was as a site for US ballistic missiles--something that we no longer even need in Turkey.

[celedhring]

Turkey is a platform in the Middle East, which is where the fun is nowadays. Granted, it's a tremendously unreliable ally in that regard, but chucking it away wouldn't make things better.

[jimmy olsen]

Erdogan has a cult of personality going, if the coup had failed but killed him in the process I'd probably still view that as a net win.

To be honest I do question NATO's position with Turkey, we've never had an openly fascist NATO country and now we will. I mean Turkish membership in NATO has had a ton of geopolitical advantages but if it becomes an alliance in which we're bound to defend a fascist country from attack it just leads me back to questioning the value of NATO going forward--something I already question given most European states do not take NATO obligations seriously and just view it as a mechanism to get guaranteed American protection.

Wasn't Portugal a dictatorship when it joined?

[celedhring]

Wasn't Portugal a dictatorship when it joined?

It was dictatorship with the dressing up of a democracy, so pretty much what Turkey will end up with.

Franco was reportedly offered membership, too.

[garbon]

Here's a breakdown of the death toll in the Turkish coup, as provided by General Umit Dundar, the newly appointed acting chief of the general staff. More than 190 people dead:

41 police officers,
Two soldiers
47 civilians
104 people described as "coup plotters."

A further 1154 people have been wounded.