Coup attempt in Turkey

[OttoVonBismarck]

Broadcaster on State TV is reading a statement "under orders of the military." Says that the country is now under control of a "Peace Council."

I'm hearing there is air force involvement, but not which side they are on. If the Turkish air forces are part of the coup then I'd say it's likely it succeeds. But as of now it's still possible to me it's just a smallish group of soldiers lead by a few angry officers who stormed a couple office buildings. If that's the case Turkish forces will probably come down on them hard in the next few hours.

[DGuller]

I can see maybe some of the logic in waiting until he's out of the country, you feel you can take control quickly and then just declare him persona non grata, the hope being he agrees to live out his life in exile.

The problem as  I see it, is I don't see Erdogan doing that. If this coup is successful he'll be a dangerous figure, if I were couping I'd want to take the President into custody as my first step.

Can go either way.  I imagine it's a lot easier to execute a coup when the strongman leader is not in the immediate vicinity.  It may be enough just to sever the leader's connection to his power base for a couple of days, by then he's lost his alpha dog status and is irrelevant.

[Malthus]

I can see maybe some of the logic in waiting until he's out of the country, you feel you can take control quickly and then just declare him persona non grata, the hope being he agrees to live out his life in exile.

The problem as  I see it, is I don't see Erdogan doing that. If this coup is successful he'll be a dangerous figure, if I were couping I'd want to take the President into custody as my first step.

I agree.

The issue is that, without having him physically under their thumb, he will be a focus of countercoup loyalty. Given that he's the legitimate head of the government (whatever you happen to think of him), this I think reduces the chance of the coup spreading beyond its initial conspirators.

But again, to early to call.

[The Brain]

I blame the EU. If only they had let Turkey in we wouldn't have this mess.

[Solmyr]

Reading this: https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/4t12h3/turkish_military_blocks_istanbul_bridges/

EDIT 19: The President's office is still claiming the attempted coup is not by mainstream Turkey military, but a splinter group, and the government is still in control. This looks like absolute bluster. Clearly, military forces have grabbed major locations and there seems to be fighting between different military units. Just the military versus the police.
EDIT 20: Erdogan to make a statement imminently. Sounds like the military's claim to be controlling the whole country is exagerration. They have Ankara and Istanbul, and key airports. Not clear if they have control elsewhere, but surely it is only a matter of time.
EDIT 21: Police guarding the presidential palace, loyal to the government, have been disarmed.
EDIT 22: It seems like the senior layer of the military have taken control, holding hostage the handful of very top leaders appointed by Erdogan. But be sure, this isn't a small faction as the government claims: it's a united military.
EDIT 23: The US is in a difficult situation. They have troops in Turkey as part of NATO bases, but they're not allowed to operate in countries with illegitimate governments. Suspect they'll be removed in a few days.
EDIT 24: Government buildings elsewhere in Turkey have been surrounded by the police (who are loyal to the government). This really shows how it's nonsense that there's a split in the military. If there was, there would be military forces protecting the government, but they're being forced to rely on the police instead.

[OttoVonBismarck]

If it's military versus police that only ends one way, and damn quickly.

Another risk with Erdogan out of country is he's still President, legally--if there was a split among the military he'd be able to give orders to loyal units who would attack the coup forces. But it does sound like the first thing the coup did was seize military HQ and put the military chief of staff in custody (presumably an Erdogan loyalist), so it's possible the coup's leaders effectively took over military CnC first and the mainline troops are going to simply follow orders from whoever is in charge within the military (but not perhaps, the political leadership.)

[viper37]

tion as the government claims: it's a united military.
EDIT 23: The US is in a difficult situation. They have troops in Turkey as part of NATO bases, but they're not allowed to operate in countries with illegitimate governments. Suspect they'll be removed in a few days.

What is an illegetimate government, really?  if NATO countries officially recognize the new government, it won't be illegitimate anymore.

[Josquius]

The view I get from my turkish friends is they would probably support this.
To western eyes the esteem people hold atta turk and Turkish nationalism and all that.... it just looks utterly bizzare and scary.
But in the context of a modern 1st world land sharing a country with a Islamic 3rd world mess..... it does sort of make sense in light of erdogan

[Razgovory]

Looks like Languish may get what it wants.  Maybe a lot of people will die as well.

So right Raz this totally made my day.

Made some people's day.

Well why don't you talk to them instead of lumping us all together for your own self-congratulatory bullshit?

I'm not the one popping corks, and you should have logged your complaints the last time we had this debate.

[mongers]

There's signs of a big explosion in Ankara, photos of a large cloud in the distance.

Breaking911
@Breaking911     
BREAKING: Photo Shows Thick Black Smoles From Blast In Ankara, Turkey. breaking911.com/gunfire-heard-... (@SputnikInt) pic.twitter.com/wRWL7waRMk

I can't vouch for the report, photo or above quoted tweet.

[mongers]

People rushing to get cash from ATMs and fuel from gas stations.

[Liep]

Danish veteran war reporter live on phone from Istanbul reporting heavy gunfire in the Asian part of the city.

[Agelastus]

So putting 1 in 5 of your generals in jail on (probably) mainly trumped up charges doesn't make your army loyal; who would have guessed?

[The Brain]

Danish veteran war reporter live on phone from Istanbul reporting heavy gunfire in the Asian part of the city.

Asians are normally so polite.

[LaCroix]

There's signs of a big explosion in Ankara, photos of a large cloud in the distance.

Breaking911
@Breaking911     
BREAKING: Photo Shows Thick Black Smoles From Blast In Ankara, Turkey. breaking911.com/gunfire-heard-... (@SputnikInt) pic.twitter.com/wRWL7waRMk

I can't vouch for the report, photo or above quoted tweet.

allegedly that's a police station