Coup in Turkey?

[panzerde]

State TV is apparently only showing a documentary about Azerbaijan. Looks like it might be under military control, or at least not under state control.


Being careful what I say or ask my Turkish friend. Don't want to leave any digital trail he could get in trouble later over.

[panzerde]

Apparently Erdogan is/was out of the country...

USA Today added that the location of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan is unknown; he was on vacation when this action was executed.

A likely time for a coup then...

[steve58]

Apparently Erdogan is/was out of the country...

USA Today added that the location of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan is unknown; he was on vacation when this action was executed.

A likely time for a coup then...

Indeed  :)

Hope your friend comes out of this unscathed/OK...

[SirAndrewD]

Apparently Erdogan is/was out of the country...

USA Today added that the location of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan is unknown; he was on vacation when this action was executed.

A likely time for a coup then...

Indeed  :)

Hope your friend comes out of this unscathed/OK...

+1 on your friend. 

With things in the balance it's probably best for anyone on the ground over there to be very very quiet and neutral until the smoke clears.

[panzerde]

I was quite surprised to see him online. Aside from not wanting to cause him problems, I don't see it as really my place to make political comments to someone in another country the middle of a coup in any case. 

But yes, were I him I'd be keeping my mouth shut!

[MikeGER]

If the coup succeed that can be a good thing because the generals (at least in in the past) were known for being non-ilsmistic, while Erdogan was steering Turkey society into more Islamic minded waters.

Well, if the coup fails we will have a 'proximity dictatorship' of Erdogan with Erdogan's relatives and marionettes in leading positions and Turkey will went down faster on the track he has planed... 

btw: we have 1.5 Million Turks in Germany  (which is waaay to much!)  so i hope there is no civilwar in Turkey and the pro and contra groups also kind of import their conflicts onto our streets

[Barthheart]

News here says Prez was on vacation in country, some place called Marmeress(?).

Seems coup has failed. Led by some small faction in military not the whole org.

[Barthheart]

Well... Seems Military are claiming control of country... While Prez says his cronies are in control...?

All social media shutdown in country.

Curfew in place... Prez calling for people to defy it and fill the streets.....

[panzerde]

Yep, my friend is now marked Away on Steam. Don't know if that's because he's sensibly hunkered down or what. Doesn't look like he's been cut off from the Internet, though.

[bob48]

Mrs B has a guy from Istanbul in her WoW guild - he says that he can hear gunfire and the situation is still confused, but he's staying at home and trying to make sense of the news reports.

[MetalDog]

Erdogan has been gathering power to make himself unassailable and turning Turkey into an Islamic state.  Now, if that's the religion you choose, that's up to you.  But if it leads to less freedom for its citizens, then I think it's a terrible way to govern.  And I hope that secular, democratic power is returned.  Coup or no coup.

[Pinetree]

I've been wondering how long it would take before the military would do something. They nearly always step in if they feel a government is not following Ataturks's principles of Kemalism. Erdogan was definitely leading Turkey away from those.

[Staggerwing]

Erdogan has built up a substantial cult following among the populace and has also sacked many secular military officials and replaced them with cronies. I fear that the current Turkish military establishment is now fragmented and nothing like the Ataturk ideal of decades past. If the current coup leaders become effectively isolated from the rest of the Turkish military's command structure by Erdogan's loyalists they won't last long.

[panzerde]

Erdogan has built up a substantial cult following among the populace and has also sacked many secular military officials and replaced them with cronies. I fear that the current Turkish military establishment is now fragmented and nothing like the Ataturk ideal of decades past. If the current coup leaders become effectively isolated from the rest of the Turkish military's command structure by Erdogan's loyalists they won't last long.

That's my biggest concern here, that the coup leaders don't have enough support in the military to pull this off. The worst situation would be a full breakdown into civil war, but I'd be surprised to see that. Far more likely that they might have some initial success and then be overwhelmed when Erdogan manages to rally some loyalist forces over the next couple of days.


I hope that the majority of the military is behind this, and all of it can be concluded quickly and with as little bloodshed as possible.

[Wes]

Here's some recent news:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13746679

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36809083