Policemen protect a soldier (C, R) from the mob after troops involved in the coup surrendered on the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey July 16, 2016. REUTERS/Murad Sezer
The Independent: Turkey coup: Erdogan set to crush all opponents and purge army after surprise failed attempt
Coup never likely to succeed once it had lost advantage of surprise.
A striking feature of the failed military coup in Turkey is that President Erdogan and his government did not know that there was an extensive conspiracy within the armed forces aiming to seize power.
It was widely assumed that the era of military coups in Turkey was over and the army has recently had good relations with Mr Erdogan.
It may only have been a faction within the military, but it was able to strike in multiple places in Istanbul, Ankara and elsewhere, even detaining the Turkish chief-of-staff Gen Hulusi Akar for several hours until he was freed by anti-coup troops.
Read more ....
Update: Erdogan Begins Promised Purge After Attempted Coup -- Slate
WNU Editor: This is ominous on what to expect in Turkey in the next few weeks .... the government has just gotten rid of five members on its judiciary board (the board then went on to fire 2,745 judges). I expect the following .... the judiciary will be purged, replaced with judges sympathetic to Erdogan's view of Islam and its role in Turkish society. The Turkish military will be completely purged. Only those who actively supported Erdogan in the military will stay. The Turkish intelligence and security institutions completely failed in detecting this coup .... they will be purged. Political opponents will be accused of supporting the coup .... and measures against them will then be instituted. The media .... or at least what is still independent in Turkey .... will now fall under government control. If history is any guide .... authoritarian rulers who almost lose power tend to respond by being ruthless against all opponents (real and imagined), and accumulating more power in their hands. I expect President Erdogan to follow this course.
2 comments:
Aaaand he's off and running. Having those 2,745 names just laying around right at hand was sure lucky.
Wnu,
This should spell the end of Turkey as a member of NATO. If they do stay in how it is framed by the member nations should be instructive. I wonder what Frau Merkel is thinking at the moment.
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