Possible Coup in Turkey. Details sketchy.

[Wokko]

https://www.rt.com/news/351334-ankara-shooting-jets-helicopters/

Bosphorus bridges closed, police disarmed and jets in the air.

[Wokko]

https://twitter.com/SkyNewsBreak/status/754049753269301248

Miltary claims to have taken control.

[watt price tully]

Wow.

There is along history of military rule & Erdogan has been running the joint like a "Putinesque" empire - Islamo-fascist in a suit.

Utter scumbag but I don't support the idea of a coup (yet)

[stui magpie]

Seems like it's over, for now.

Interesting read about the why.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/world/why-did-it-all-suddenly-boil-over-in-turkey/news-story/c807da0ed458a8bdc4f7f1fb0098b580

[Jezza]

It's a good summary of events, Stui. Thanks for linking the article.

It appears the coup is over for now, but this could head into two possible directions. Either a civil war in Turkey erupts with the Kurds also getting involved and ISIS exploiting the unrest, or Erdogan will crack down hard on political enemies and Islamize Turkey even further.

Very troubling times for the region.

[think positive]

Turkish president said coup has failed. 42 dead 100 injured.

Gees vision right now of people getting stomped.

[Wokko]

The coup was probably the last chance for Turkey to return to a Kemalist secular State. Erdogan is an Islamist and a Dictator and the thing about failed coups is they allow purges and solidification of power.

I was really hoping for a relatively peaceful military victory, but it appears that Erdogan will remain in power.

The army in Turkey is charged with protecting the secular state from Theocratic take over. They're required to preform a coup to do this. Maybe for the last time they were trying to do that duty.

[Morrigu]

they are reporting 200 dead!

This attempted coup whilst well meaning given what direction the current president is taking the country will further decimate their tourism industry which employs so very many Turks and Kurds (all the staff where we stayed on 3 different visits were Kurds - and lovely) that can't be good!

This from June before the attempted coup:

Turkey has seen a slump in arrivals this year, with civil instability and terror attacks keeping visitors away from the once-popular destination.

The number of arrivals to the country fell 34.7 per cent, year-on-year, for May � the biggest drop in 22 years � to 2.48million.

Each month this year has registered a double-digit percentage point fall, apart from January where visitors fell just 6.4 per cent.

[Wokko]

This is Erdogan's Reichstag Fire. I'd expect emergency powers, purge of the military and judiciary and he'll rule for life; effectively becoming Sultan.

There's still fighting and the Coup forces have captured a frigate but it looks like having little popular support. Some reports are claiming that the coup was organized by even harder line Islamists so the secular forces didn't get involved and now they're being purged.

All very confusing still.

[David]

Can't see much good coming of this, I'm afraid. And I share Wokko's and WPT's view on Erdogan.

[Wokko]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3693729/Did-Erdogan-STAGE-coup-based-Turkish-cleric-facing-extradition-botched-rebellion-claims-president-orchestrated-plot-justify-clampdown-civil-rights.html

Here's an article suggesting the same thing I did about it being a staged coup (like the Reichstag Fire). Even if it wasn't staged, just botched it gives Erdogan the justification for getting rid of any and all opposition to him and his party. Some in the government have already suggested it was a US backed coup (think Bay of Pigs level of **** up).

[HAL]

Some may in the government suggested it was a US backed coup think Bay of Pigs level of **** up, but not all.

[watt price tully]

[Skids]

Erdogan heavily armed his Muslim Brotherhood militia and now over 6,000 secularist soldiers have been arrested after Friday night�s attempted coup and now they must be humiliated and paraded in the nude just as ISIS paraded Iraqi soldiers and then piled up and crammed like sheep, even tortured inside mosques.

http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2016/07/lapsed-plo-terrorist-explains-what-turkeys-erdogan-is-doing-and-whats-likely-to-happen-next.html

[David]

It's sickening to see. Just a consolidation of power for Erdogan. Almost wonder if a successful military coup would have been a better result (and I mean as the slight lesser of two evils).