Over 250 people are dead and thousands of military members have been arrested after an attempted coup against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Though he was on vacation at the time, Erdoğan reached the media through Facetime and urged his supporters into the streets of Ankara and Istanbul. Now the increasingly authoritarian president is likely to use the botched coup as pretext to continue consolidating power
We don’t yet know who was behind the plot, but a faction within the military issued a statement saying they sought “to reinstate constitutional order, human rights and freedom.” They called themselves the Peace at Home council. That’s reference to Mustafa Kemal Attaturk, the military officer who established Turkey’s secular state from the ashes of the old Ottoman Empire in 1923.
Since Turkey’s founding, the military has seen itself as defenders of the secular and democratic principles of Kemalism. So whenever the nation’s political order was challenged, the military would intervene. But the latest attempt didn’t appear to have the full support of military leaders, which is likely one reason it failed.
Erdogan is blaming the latest coup attempt on Gülenists, the followers of exiled Sunni cleric Fetullah Gulen, who now lives in Pennsylvania. Once an ally to Erdoğan, Gülen’s media outlets have accused the president of corruption. And in response, Erdoğan seized Gulen’s media assets and labeled his sizeable political party a terrorist movement.
Now, Erdoğan is calling for the US to arrest and extradite Gulen, who in turn, alleges that Erdoğan himself staged the whole thing.
There may not be an appetite for military coups among Turks today, but Erdoğan is increasingly unpopular. As prime minister for 11 years before being elected president in 2014, he has pushed for constitutional changes that would grant him more power, and also cracked down on domestic protests, and prosecuted dissenting academics and journalists.
This guy was even put on trial for photoshopping Erdoğan next to Gollum from Lord of the Rings.
And the fact that he built himself a thousand-room palace didn’t calm concerns that he’s got plans for long-term rule.
A publicly religious man, Erdoğan raised eyebrows among Turkey’s staunch secularists with school reforms that expand Islamic education. And he’s been criticized for allowing Turkey’s southern border with Syria to remain porous. This has made Turkey an entry point for ISIS fighters.
The European Union may have some leverage to encourage reform, since Turkey has long sought to join the union. But Turkey’s political stability is vital. Europe depends on Erdoğan to help manage the ongoing Syrian refugee crisis. and the US uses airbases there to stage bombing raids against ISIS in Syria.
but Right now Turkey’s first order of business will be to re-establish political order. And early indications from Erdoğan and his allies suggest his methods will not be democratic in nature.
