Military coup in Turkey?
The military says it’s been successful, although it’s unclear whether that is true, but there is an ongoing attempt at a military coup in Turkey (hat tip: commenter “Sergey”]:
The full Turkish military statement reads: “Turkish Armed Forces have completely taken over the administration of the country to reinstate constitutional order, human rights and freedoms, the rule of law and general security that was damaged.
“All international agreements are still valid. We hope that all of our good relationships with all countries will continue.”
The Turkish president Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan is on holiday and outside the country. Reuters has quoted a source within his office as saying that he is safe.
Follow the link and others to keep up with breaking events. I am about to step out for a couple of hours, but will update later on this evening.
Flippant of me, perhaps… but I couldn’t help thinking of a Spider Robinson short story — called “Copyright Violation”, I believe — in which a character claimed to be a princess of a country, which had recently had a revolution and become a democracy. She added: “Don’t worry, it was a bloodless revolution. We were on vacation at the time. Father moped for a week.”
Couldn’t happen to a nicer ….
This is a really hopeful sign for the country. As weird as it sounds to Westerners, the military can be a force for secular democracy in Turkey. (I guess after Egypt’s past few years, it’s more believable.) The big question will be, who in the military has taken over? It’s more factionalized than it’s been historically, with Erdogan having canned some of the more pro-democratic generals.
I’m glad if it turns out to be good news.
Though I really don’t like checking the news and repeatedly muttering, “Now what?” everyday.
While I like a surprise, prefer it not to come constantly from news events.
I don’t know how deep Erdogan’s support was, but he had won elections in the country. This could easily descend into civil war just like Iraq and Syria.
And it was such a slow news week….
Here’s more on what has been going on in Turkey this week:
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/437857/syria-war-turkey-russia-putin
Ad to that the recent terrorist attack there and Turkey’s role in “managing” Europe’s refuge crisis.
I have no real idea of what is going on there. I just know it is a huge mess. Is it any wonder that Germany defied NATO’s wishes to accept Turkey in the EU.
Erdogan deserves the fate of Benito.
I would feel a lot more confident about the success of this coup if Erdogan had been arrested or killed. As it is a civil war in Turkey looks horribly possible.
…it appears to have failed (05:47P pacific).
But it’s still a mess, so who really knows.
…Erdogan apparently landed at Istanbul Airport a few minutes ago.
Down with Erdogan!
I read a bio of Ataturk when I was very young, and admire him as one of the greatest leaders of the 20t century. He was non-religious and had radical imams hung.
I read a history of Byzantium flowing into the Ottoman Empire and then into modern times. Istanbul is a beautiful, said by Michael J. Totten to be his favorite of all those in the region.
I even have a favorite Turkish pop star = Tarkan.
This coup may be very good news. An unknown, however, is whether Putin is somehow involved.
I don’t think there is any doubt that US foreign policy has been a complete disaster under Obama. And he was supposed to restore our standing in the world.
miklos,
As you know, Ataturk turned Turkey around after the collapse of the Ottoman Caliphate, and pointed it in a direction towards moderation and a more Western perspective. Long live (within Turkey) the memory of Ataturk.
vanderleun Says:
July 15th, 2016 at 6:29 pm
And it was such a slow news week….
* * *
Indeed.
Don’t underestimate the power of evil or of their god, Allah, which is akin to Lucifer either directly or indirectly.
I always like to warn people not to underestimate the Leftist alliance’s power too.