My brief take on the coup attempt…

an update here

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via

[Not anything surprising here though…]

I am trying to figure out what happened. The future seems to be bleak. It took some time to figure out who was behind the coup attempt. Still, there are mysteries.

So far it seems for sure that the coup attempt was not staged by Erdoğanists as some circles claimed. It is also hard to believe that Gülenists are that powerful to start a coup. For years and years, we heard how Turkish army was purging Gülenists from the army every year. Since last year, AKP circles began to claim that Gülenists are powerful within the army. Thinking of their organizational capacity, this might be true but there is no evidence for the ordinary citizens to see about that. The coup attempt seems to be small scale and a badly organized one (- and thanks God for that anyway). Or maybe some factions within the army decided not to act. And the ones who started the coup lost it. In any case, the coup plotters did not have a communication plan. They were faceless. Apart from a communique in the Chief of Staff website they did not have any other statement or any spokesperson. When a group of soldiers invaded State TV, they have made the anchorwoman repeat the coup statement. In the mean time, Turkish mainstream media, who are oppressively under pressure under normal times, became anti-coup communication venues. AKP leadership did not use their own TV channels but CNN Türk and NTV. I believe Doğan Media Group (DMG) was quick to realize that the coup would fail. I do not believe DMG has a good record on democratic rights. They would not be anti-coup without seeing the winning side. Surprisingly (or not?) social media was not restricted, too. This will be a case work. Few people would support coup, and anti-coup mobilization could be sustained quicker. Despite the heavy usage, our communications were relatively fast. Anways,

One could be happier after a coup if the counter-measures are limited to coup plotters. Why Prime Ministry would ban news sites?

These are opposition channels and not all of them are affiliated with Gülenists. I am mostly specialized in media studies, so this ban is the most significant one to arouse suspicions for me.

There are more than 6 thousand arrested and not only soldiers. There is no way to find all connections in the higher judiciary and in other fields to coup plans. It is obvious that government had already lists. The “cleansing” is so wide that it is obvious not only Gülenists are targeted. This causes anxieties. The ruling party is taking over the state, it seems.

Treatment of arrested soldiers and others causes anxieties, too. Without a proper investigation how can we know who was guilty to what extent?

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This photo is disseminated as the photo of top coup plotters who are obviously beaten. The one in the middle is the former chief of Air Forces…

I must still underline the fact the coup attempt was real and some known AKP followers are killed in anti-coup demonstrations. There are at least 161 people killed during the soldiers’ shooting or coup related air force attacks. An urge for bad treatment is understandable but they are not in the boundaries of democratic system… I admire the braveness of those who took the streets but I have to say many of them began to believe coup failed because of them. I don’t believe citizens had much chance against a full-scale military takeover… And some of the citizens who took to the street do not seem to be in favor of democracy but for shariah. But is this necessary? AKP masses are not known to be much democratic anyway. Still religious shows like the one that took place in Kızılay Sq in Ankara are interesting.

A few more tweets and a news roundup:

 

https://twitter.com/kendinelaik/status/754655983457144833

 

 

 

Aftermath of Turkey coup attempt will be bloody and repressive

Mob rule will shape country’s politics as attacks on anyone seen to oppose Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his party continue

The attempted military coup in Turkey on Friday sent shockwaves through the country and international community. Aimed at toppling Turkey’s strongman president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Justice and Development party (AKP), the failed uprising threw a spotlight on a deeply divided country embroiled in war at home and abroad.

The military’s last stand: What went wrong for Turkey’s coup plotters
The Globe and Mail
But not only were the Ergenekon and Balyoz cases alleged plots against the AKP government, they also represented deep schisms within the ranks of the military. In memoirs by leading military cadres and leaked documents, it’s revealed that younger
Kurdish Movement Releases Statement on Turkey Coup AttemptAnarkismo.net

For the last three years, the Turkish president has been methodically moving to take over the nodes of power

What happens in Turkey matters. It is a G20 economy in a sensitive part of the world, sharing borders with Iraq, Iran and Syria. Turkey is an asset to its Nato partners when it is able to exercise a leadership role. It can be a liability when its own problems – like the tension with its Kurdish population – spill over those frontiers. And it can be a millstone around the world’s neck when it decides, as it did on Friday, to self-harm.

The missions by American warplanes flown from Turkey against Islamic State targets were shut down in the hours after the failed coup in the nation.

Turkey Interrupts U.S. Air Missions Against ISIS at Major Base

A Pentagon spokesman said United States officials were “working with the Turks to resume air operations there as soon as possible.”

Pentagon loses Turkish airspace access crucial in airstrikes against Isis

  • Incirlik airbase closed to military aircraft after failed coup attempt
  • US officials say they are working with Turkey to resume air operations
A number of high ranking soldiers were detained on July 16 in operations which came after security forces’ quashing of a coup attempt in the country
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan urged people not to leave squares on July 17, following the failed military coup attempt that started on the night of July 15
An attempted coup has been crushed and life in Turkey has returned to normal, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said on July 17, while however urging people to continue a “democracy vigil.”

Turkey detains 6,000 over coup attempt as Erdoğan vows to ‘clean state of virus’

US-Turkish relations fray over Ankara’s claim that coup was planned by followers of US-based scholar Fethullah Gülen

Turkey has accelerated its crackdown following Friday’s coup attempt, detaining 6,000 people, as the president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, vowed to purge the state of supporters of a US-based Islamist scholar and dissident whom his government blames for the failed putsch.

Fethullah Gülen: alleged coup mastermind – and friendly neighbor

Living next to the man Erdoğan blames for trying to overthrow the Turkish government has its perks – dinner invitations, for example

The rural town of Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, seems unfazed by the attempted military coup that rocked Turkey overnight on Friday, and threatened to destabilise the region.

Arrests in Turkey after Friday’s failed coup rise to around 6,000, as President Erdogan vows to cleanse state bodies of the “virus” that caused it.

Cartoon widely shared on Facebook.

Who was behind coup attempt?

As Turkey reels from a failed coup by members of the military, Turkish journalist Ezgi Basaran looks at the possible reasons and actors behind the attempt.
Protesters take to the streets of Turkey to demonstrate their rejection of the attempted coup in the country.

Turkey’s coup attempt: What you need to know

A brief guide a complex situation in Turkey, which has seen an attempted coup against the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Turkish coup attempt: who is Fethullah Gülen? – video explainer

The Turkish government, including President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has pointed the finger at Fethullah Gülen – also known as leader of the Hizmet movement – as the mastermind behind Friday’s attempted coup by the country’s military. Butwho is Gülen? We take a look at the Islamic cleric and how he has affected Erdoğan’s presidency

Fethullah Gulen, accused by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of inspiring an effort to overthrow the Turkish government, compared Mr. Erdogan’s government to that of Nazi-era Germany.

Turkey Was an Unlikely Victim of an Equally Unlikely Coup

The uprising appeared to diverge wildly from the usual patterns of such attempts. And for several reasons, Turkey should have been at little risk.
Secretary of State John Kerry called his Turkish counterpart on July 16 to offer U.S. support in the wake of a failed coup, and also to protest claims Washington had backed it.

Coup d’état attempt: Turkey’s Reichstag fire?

We are witnessing the consolidation of a new form of authoritarianism with a populist streak.

Damage caused by military helicopter bombardments inside Turkey’s parliament near the Turkish military headquarters in Ankara, Turkey, Saturday, July 16, 2016. Burhan Ozbilici / Press Association.

Defiant Turks stood up for democracy – but not necessarily for Erdoğan

Resistance to the military’s coup attempt may have had more to do with Turkey’s past than with the president’s popularity

Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, remains in power on Saturday after quelling an attempted coup by military officers who seized control of state television the night before, and then proceeded to shell the parliament in Ankara, deploy troops on major bridges in Istanbul and put tanks on the streets of both cities.

Soldiers attacked on bridge

Images of the confrontation on Istanbul’s Bosphorus Bridge between soldiers trying to overthrow the government, and a group of supporters of Turkish President Recep Erdogan

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