The military statement continued: “Right now we’re focusing on the whole ‘law and security’ thing but the others are coming, we swear.”
3 Likes
The job of the military is to safeguard the dignity of the nation. Interpret that as you will.
5 Likes
What took them so long?
Seems like you’re putting a lot of faith in the good will of military leaders…
Who’s to say that they don’t think instead that Erdogan hasn’t been doing such things fast enough?
“A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government.” —Edward Abbey
Ideally, the military is just that: a defensive force sworn to protect the people, not the government, of a nation-state. Problems emerge (to put it mildly) when military leaders envision a new order effectively worse than the previous one (or bungle up implementing it in the first place).
and the civil war in Syria, Erdoğan was strictly on the side of the anti-Assad group, not sure about the position of the Turkish army.
4 Likes
Allow me to summarize the most recent statements issued by the parties concerned:
Turkish Government: We’re still in power.
Army: No, we’re now in power.
Turkish Government: Nuh-uh.
Army: Yeah-huh
Turkish Government: Nuh-uh.
…
18 Likes
The Turkish army is historically pro Kemalist so even if it is only part of the military I expect it’s a big part. To be honest, I’m surprised it’s taken them this long to attempt a coup.
The Kemalists are no more friendly to the Kurds than Erdogan is/has been.
5 Likes
a new political order based on sound principles of military discipline, honor and glory? Sounds good to me!
Finally, someone with the decency to reverse the decadent tendencies of democracy and liberalism.
1 Like
I know, I tend to worry the Kemalists will go overboard in the name of “maintaining order.”
3 Likes
The word “hostages” is being floated around…but what if the military is simply arresting those they consider corrupt?
And this doesn’t necessarily have to be the wrong thing to do.
Turkey has been in a bad way for a long time, and there didn’t seem to be any end in sight.
Sky News streams currently only Turkey topics
5 Likes
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not a fan of military rule. The Turkish army hasn’t been exactly friendly towards democracy before now.
But at this stage, they’re the only force capable of stemming a slide into brutal theocracy.
Or to put it another way:
In turkey right now, I’d be in favour of democracy, modernity, secularism, freedom of expression and rights for the Kurdish minority. With the military, there’s a chance of some of these. Erdogan gets a big 0 all round.
11 Likes
For one because they have a long history of very different politics and a fairly contentious relationship with Erdogan. Wouldn’t you agree that the military is a Kemalist stronghold, perhaps not quite as much as it used to be, but still?
1 Like
Why now? AFAIK, the Turkish military and Erdogan have been at odds since he took office, did something happen recently that could have prompted this?
2 Likes
I think the theocracy concerns are vastly overblown. I think what Turkey was really risking was a corrupt kleptocracy. The reality is that Turkish people don’t want a theocracy and the AK party knows this. Western coverage of a “rising tide” of Islamism is based on the suspicion that Erdogan and his party were just biding their time and plotting. Even now Erdogan’s government is actively blaming the coup on Islamists. The Turkish military is going to be feeding everyone a line about ousting Islamists as well. Don’t swallow any of it. It’s all bullshit created specifically for your consumption.
4 Likes
They closed it in one direction: towards Europe. I think that’s somewhat significant. My instinct is that they want to avoid a flow of panicked people running for Europe, which would be extremely bad on all levels - note how they made a point of saying that existing treaties will be respected… they want “us” on their side and throwing us thousands of new refugees would not help.
Or they could be trying to stop someone from barricading around Sultanhamet, but I find that difficult to believe.
2 Likes
plausible, also combined with the closure of the airport in Ankara. British Airways and Lufthansa redirected and aborted flights to Turkey
There are claims it is a Gulenist coup
I don’t know much about them.
2 Likes
Thing is - the military are not trained to think politically. Firstly, it would put them immediately in competition with … the politicians. Secondly, they must take action as ordered, without considering the meaning or consequence.
That second point is where we run into problems.
lol? but he would feel at home in Bavaria - the CSU works exactly as the AKP: religious, populist and governing with absolute majority, both parties are lead by small-minded egomanics
