Coup attempt in Turkey

[Duque de Bragança]

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.

Greece was a semi-democracy till the Colonels' coup in 1967 too.

[Tamas]

[Malicious Intent]

The Turkish government has indirectly accused exiled Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen of being behind the coup.

Minutes ago, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said  any country that would "stand by" Mr Gulen "won't be a friend of Turkey and will be considered at war with Turkey".

Mr Gulen lives in self-imposed exile in the United States.

He has previously been described as Turkey's second most powerful man.

[Grinning_Colossus]

Ice pick time.

[The Brain]

Turkey might win a war against the US. Swedish computer simulations have coughed up stranger results.

[Legbiter]

Worst coup ever.

Aye, shitty coup. 2/10.

[Legbiter]

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.

Yes. Also beating on the tanks with sticks.

[Duque de Bragança]

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.

Yes. Also beating on the tanks with sticks.

Well, Greece might even have won against them.

[Legbiter]

One analysis is that the coup was not the secular military, but Gulenist Islamists within the military.

There are multiple indications that followers of the Gulen movement embedded within the military are spearheading the coup attempt. The Gulenists are an Islamist movement that has built up significant influence in Turkey since the 1970s. They started with the gendarmerie, where they could take advantage of lax background checks, and gradually worked their way up the military chain of command. When President Recep Tayyip Erdogan felt that the Gulen movement had become too powerful, relations started to fray between the ruling party and the Gulenists. Starting in 2014, massive purges took place to whittle down Gulenist influence in the media and government.

But the Gulenist influence in the military was not fully purged. This may be because of the large amount of blackmail that the Gulenists retained on major military figures to prevent their own dismissals. In essence, an Islamist faction within the military that has deeply alienated the secular strongmen within the armed forces is the one leading the challenge against Erdogan. In other words, it is not a coup backed by Turkey's secular political, military and civilian opposition. This is already evidenced by signs of a countercoup led by a number of military commanders and the national police, as well as by the main secular opposition Republican People's Party leader saying it is against the coup.

As we saw in Turkey's 2015 elections, when the Justice and Development Party won 49.5 percent of the vote, the country is deeply polarized among secularists, Islamists, Kurds and nationalists. Turkey has a number of fault lines that breed opposition to Erdogan's Islamist-leaning political agenda and neo-Ottoman foreign policy direction, but on the other side of those splits are a substantial number of supporters who legitimately support the president. Moreover, there are many Turks who are anti-Erdogan yet also anti-coup, and who remember the deep economic and political instability of Turkey's coup-ridden past. This coup attempt is the product of an Islamist division within the military – and divisions within divisions do not spell success for a coup.

https://www.stratfor.com/analysis/why-turkish-coup-will-likely-fail?utm_source=freelist-f&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=article

[Tamas]

stratfor

[DGuller]

To be philosophical about it, a democracy that relies on army coups to defend itself is a pretty shitty and brittle democracy.  It only take one failed coup or one failure to coup in a timely manner to permanently remove the army's ability to defend the democracy.  If Turkey couldn't develop another democratic institution during all those decades it had, then maybe democracy was always doomed.

[Malicious Intent]

Looks like the purges are beginning, starting with the justice system. According to NTV around 2750 judges have been sacked.

[jimmy olsen]

One analysis is that the coup was not the secular military, but Gulenist Islamists within the military.

If the Islamists hate him and the secularists hate him, then where does his mass support come from,  hmm.

[Josquius]

So.yup. The latest is that it isn't the secular military but some rival Islamicists who did this.
Which is a relief if true.
Though sounds a bit too perfect for getting the people onside.

[alfred russel]

Looks like the purges are beginning, starting with the justice system. According to NTV around 2750 judges have been sacked.

For what a shitty coup it was, there were certainly a very large number of judges involved in it.