Sign up for a free recipe e-book →

Clarissa's Blog

Erdogan’s Successful Coup

Published by

Clarissa

on

So it looks like Erdogan’s cute little coup was wildly successful, eh? It was a masterful way of steering Turkey even farther away from the legacy of the great Ataturk, a secular democracy, and towards a fundamentalist dictatorship. Europe is flailing and trying to join it seems like a waste of time, so it makes sense to stop playing at democracy and secularization.

Now it has become clear why Erdogan made nice with Putin. He has finally made a choice of what the country’s future should be like. Tricking a group of malcontent generals into a doomed coup that would be easily defeated was super easy. The future of democracy in the region has never looked more bleak.

20 responses to “Erdogan’s Successful Coup”

  1. el Avatar
    el

    \towards a fundamentalist dictatorship … Erdogan … has finally made a choice of what the country’s future should be like.

    Israeli commentators have been aware of this choice since forever, as far as I know. And, despite current normalization of Israeli-Turkey relations, warn that Turkey’s chosen course will lead it again to anti-Israel positions and to severing ties with Israel rather sooner than later.

    Hamas in Gaza has been celebrating the results of Erdogan’s coup. People marched with Turkey flags on the streets.

    This makes me more sure in my feelings that for Israel it would’ve been better if the army took control.

    Like

    Reply
    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      The army was not an independent agent here. It was only doing what Erdogan wanted it to, whether knowingly or not. There is no real alternative to Erdogan in Turkey today. People massively want to move in a more fundamentalist direction. Sad but a fact.

      Like

      Reply
  2. el Avatar
    el

    \The army was not an independent agent here. It was only doing what Erdogan wanted it to…

    I thought you exaggerated before reading that

    \ Erdogan called the attempted coup “a gift from God,” as it would help cleanse the military of “members of the gang,” he was reported as saying.

    Like

    Reply
    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      Yeah, he’s not even trying to be more secretive about it.

      Like

      Reply
  3. cliff arroyo Avatar
    cliff arroyo

    I’ve already seen speculation in the Polish press that it was a put up job.

    There’s a way that coups have happened in Turkey and this didn’t follow that script, which is why the situation was able to turn around so fast.

    Like

    Reply
  4. NG Avatar
    NG

    The Turkish government has closed the airspace and forbidden all flights out of the main American air force base in Turkey, Incurlik. It has also cut the electrical power to the installation and stopped all land travel to and from the base. This a main storage area for American nuclear weapons in the Middle East. Basically Erdogan is holding American nukes hostage for leverage. No wonder he’s sucking up to the Russians. He’s playing a dangerous game. Obama won’t tolerate this under any circumstances.

    http://turkey.usembassy.gov/sm-071616.html

    Like

    Reply
    1. el Avatar
      el

      \This a main storage area for American nuclear weapons in the Middle East.

      Why not in Israel? Not to be seen as too large friend of Israel, while storing them in Turkey supposedly preserves American neutrality via Arab-Muslim world?
      Would Israel not agree to that?

      May be, if Erdogan goes one step too far, America will move the weapons to us?

      Like

      Reply
      1. Dreidel Avatar
        Dreidel

        “Why not in Israel?”

        Because Israel isn’t a member of NATO, and the U.S. has no formal mutual defense treaties with Israel (as it does with Korea with Japan, where U.S. nukes have been stored at one time or another). If we put nuclear weapons is Israel, a U.S. military base would be required there to safeguard and maintain them — not remotely in the cards.

        Like

        Reply
      2. Avatar
        Anonymous

        Dreidel here — Posing this twice in case WordPress is still “spamming” comments under my real avatar:

        “Why not in Israel?”

        Because Israel isn’t a member of NATO, and the U.S. doesn’t have a mutual defense treaty with Israel (as it does with South Korea and Japan, where U.S. nukes have been stored at one time or another). If we put nuclear weapons in Israel, we’d have to have a U.S. military base there, with the weapons safeguarded and maintained strictly by U.S. personnel — this isn’t remotely in the cards.

        Like

        Reply
    2. el Avatar
      el

      \Basically Erdogan is holding American nukes hostage for leverage. No wonder he’s sucking up to the Russians. He’s playing a dangerous game. Obama won’t tolerate this under any circumstances.

      What will Obama do?

      I (wrongly?) see him as somebody who will tolerate a whole lot and deport Gulen to Turkey, if an official extradition request is made.

      Interesting if Turkey will one day turn against America, if the country’s Islamization continues.

      Like

      Reply
  5. el Avatar
    el

    Turkey’s highest judiciary council suspends 2,745 judges and members of its own board for links to reformist Muslim leader Fethullah Gülen
    …
    Mr Gülen, a preacher and former imam, was an ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan until 2013. The relationship turned sour after a corruption scandal implicated Mr Erdogan, who then accused Mr Gülen of being behind the corruption investigations.

    He is now on Turkey’s most-wanted terrorist list and the country has demanded his extradition from the United States where he is in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania.

    Mr Gülen is the founder of the Gülen movement, which teaches a moderate Islam which believes in science, multi-party democracy and interfaith dialogue between the Abrahamic religions.
    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/turkey-coup-latest-news-erdogan-istanbul-judges-removed-from-duty-failed-government-overthrow-a7140661.html

    Like

    Reply
  6. el Avatar
    el

    Gülen rejected all accusations that he was behind the coup attempt.

    “I don’t believe that the world believes the accusations made by President Erdoğan,” Gülen said. “There is a possibility that it could be a staged coup and it could be meant for further accusations [against the Gülenists].”
    …
    Speaking in public in Istanbul on Saturday, Erdoğan called on Barack Obama to arrest Gülen and deport him to Turkey. Turkey had never turned back any extradition request for “terrorists” by its US ally, Erdoğan said, adding: “I say if we are strategic partners then you should bring about our request.”

    No official extradition request had been made, according to the US secretary of state, John Kerry, who spoke to reporters in Luxembourg. “We fully anticipate that there will be questions raised about Mr Gülen,” he said.

    “And obviously we would invite the government of Turkey, as we always do, to present us with any legitimate evidence that withstands scrutiny. And the United States will accept that and look at it and make judgments about it appropriately.”
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/16/fethullah-gulen-turkey-coup-erdogan

    Like

    Reply
  7. el Avatar
    el

    Второе место на конкурсе

    Ой-вэй… Вообще, конечно, да. Неудавшийся турецкий путч сделал с Путиным тоже самое, что аннексия Крыма сделала с Лукашенко. Из самого главного европейского зла он теперь превратился – нет, в зло, конечно, в диктатора, но – номер два.
    http://starshinazapasa.livejournal.com/928151.html

    Like

    Reply
  8. David Gendron Avatar
    David Gendron

    Many conspiracy theorists are calling me a conspiracy theorist when I talk about this possibility.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  9. NG Avatar
    NG

    Things are starting to heat up as Turkey kidnaps senior American military commanders for use as hostages in on-going demands with Obama.

    “Turkish officials arrested the commander of the Incirlik Air Base, which the U.S. uses to carry out airstrikes against Islamic State in Syria, for complicity in Friday’s coup attempt, U.S. and Turkish officials said Sunday.

    A senior Turkish official said Gen. Bekir Ercan Van, the base commander, as well as 11 other service members from the base and a police officer, were placed under arrest.”

    http://www.wsj.com/articles/turkey-arrests-incirlik-air-base-commander-1468760920

    Like

    Reply
    1. Dreidel Avatar
      Dreidel

      Turkey is arresting Turkish military commanders, not U.S. military personnel. Erdogan isn’t that stupid. He kissed Putin’s ass when he had to, and he isn’t about to go to war with the United States.

      Incirlik Air Base is a Turkish military base with a separate U.S. component. Therefore the installation commander is a Turkish officer.

      Like

      Reply
      1. Clarissa Avatar
        Clarissa

        Yay, it worked! Human defeats WordPress! 🍾🍹🍸♬

        Like

        Reply
  10. Avatar
    Anonymous

    OK. I wasn’t aware of that. I thought that it was American.

    Like

    Reply
  11. el Avatar
    el

    EU Foreign Minister: ‘No excuse for Turkey to abandon rule of law’

    The EU is beginning to worry about the seeming dissolution of rights in Turkey following an attempted coup over the weekend; Meanwhile, Turkey is considering reintstituting the death penalty, something which would freeze negotiations for EU membership
    …
    Mogherini’s fellow EU commissioner, Johannes Hahn, who is dealing with Turkey’s membership request, said he had the impression that the government had prepared lists of those such as judges to be arrested even before the coup took place.
    …
    Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday there could be no delay in using capital punishment, which Turkey abolished in 2004, and the government would discuss the measure with opposition parties.
    …
    Kurz said a deal with Turkey aimed at stemming the flow of migrants into Europe was no reason to back down. “The migration pact cannot be a reason to deviate from our fundamental values and clear position.”
    http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4829830,00.html

    Like

    Reply
  12. el Avatar
    el

    1,577 Turkish university deans told to leave following failed coup

    State-run Anadolu news agency reports that Turkey’s Board of Higher Education has requested the resignations of 1,577 university deans, effectively dismissing them.

    Tuesday’s announcement comes right on the heels of an announcement by the Ministry of National Education that it has dismissed 15,200 personnel over their alleged involvement with a group the government claims is responsible for Friday’s failed coup.

    Like

    Reply

Leave a comment

A conservative literary critic and college professor

Recent posts