Failed coup

It was a somewhat half arsed coup. A faction of the army took control of the airport, the Bosporus bridges and other locations for a while. They took over the state broadcaster and declared a curfew. The president managed to get on air through another station and urged his supporters to take to the streets and defy the coup, which they did and they took back control. In most cases the army refused to fire on or fight civilians and sheer weight of numbers saw the pro government people, and then the pro government police take back full control. Crucially the coup was not backed by the full military.

If they going to succeed they needed to get hold of the president and shut everything down. They didn't. From the outside it looks like a victory for democracy and people power. However I would suggest that it is far more nuanced than that. Essentially this solidifies the presidents position, which is not a good thing, and emboldens the masses of supporters he has. He has shown that they will flood into the streets for him at a moments notice. And don't imagine that they wouldn't do that to smash any form of democratic peaceful opposition. A retrograde step for democracy in Turkey in all ways.

Posted By: istanbuldom, Jul 16, 10:55:49