First off, let me say that I have lived in Turkey previously. I lived in Cihangir, and during the Gezi protests of 2013-14, I had a lot of involvement there and the issues facing the Turkish people became all to intimately apparent to me.
I have inhaled a LOT of tear gas because of Erdogan. I have faced a LOT of armored tanks because of Erdogan. I have ran from flashbangs that we didn't know if they were bombs or not because of Erdogan. I still have nightmares about helicopters firing at us because of Erdogan. He has been attacking his own people for many, many years.
He is a tyrant, and a dictator. You must understand, that in the history of the modern Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk established the military order that a coup would take place if the government became too close to a religious monarchy.
Much like in the US where the second amendment puts the duty on armed militias, in Turkey, the MILITARY is the defender of democracy.
Over the past 14 years, Erdogan has progressively purged any opposition from military and judicial offices. The military couldn't execute a coup, because all of the leadership had been jailed.
What we just saw in the recent coup is a lot of confusion, but in the spirit of Ataturk, a "coup" in Turkey represents an attempt to return to democracy from what is clearly a religious monarchy.
If the military in Turkey is even remotely attempting a coup, that is usually a VERY good indicator that the leadership has become despotic, nepotistic, and is NOT acting in the name of the people. PLEASE understand that the Turkish Military is Secular.
DO NOT FORGET THAT!!
THE TURKISH MILITARY IS SECULAR!!!
Thanks for listening.
I posted this piece about Turkish history in a white paper:
" the leaders that have emerged throughout history as having walked the balance between making effective use of capital and pleasing the needs of the population have seemingly understood the collective consciousness to the point of being able to unify the populations without having them lose their individual identities. In some cases, establishing a new collective identity was the answer to this dilemma, for example in the case of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk establishing the Turkish Republic after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.
While the emergence of the Turkish Republic did not happen immediately at the end of the empire, it was the unification of the Turkish population against the British in the Nationalist War of Independence, and the simultaneous internal power struggle of the secular republic against the religious regime that had dominated the region off and on since the 14th century that enabled a nuanced government to be established. In articulating “Kemalism”, Mustafa Kemal effectively created a “Mandate of Heaven” that ironically gave the military the concept to defend the population from any semblance of a religious monarchy at all costs. While the application of military intervention in a coup d’état may seem completely contradictory to democracy, over the last 100 years the Turkish military has shown that after a coup has occurred, the re-establishment of democratic voting is only a matter of ending the violence associated with the coup. In effect, the less violent a coup, the less collateral damage and fallout necessary to clean up before founding a new democracy.
While the current Turkish government has drifted back near a religious monarchy, the traditional military intervention was pre-emptively deconstructed as Recep Erdogan had jailed many commanders, generals, and officials that would have been the voices of revolt. As the military had become the arm of the MoH in Turkey, the newly emerging Sultanate is establishing a more nepotistic neo-Ottoman empire. While Erdogan seemingly has mastered the Byzantine General’s problem by simply “jailing all the generals”, in dismantling the MoH he has effectively created a “Wild West” scenario. While there is a semblance of a unified government during the times of the Wild West, the furthest and most rural reaches of what is supposed to have government oversight has no oversight because the government doesn’t have the capacity to effectively monitor or secure the land.
One of the nuances of the Wild West is that the most powerful force dominates, and in that regard fairness and humanitarianism go out the window. There are no penalties for nepotism within government, and there are no real penalties for breaking laws in areas that the government can’t reach. This is where the world of digital currency has its common traits with actual human history. As digital currency is essentially a digital wild west, having regulators enforce laws in areas that they are not familiar is not only difficult, it becomes questionable if the old laws even apply in the newly charted territories.
As governments struggle to understand digital currencies and their implications, the world of digital currency is “taxed” but seemingly unprotected. The individuals who choose to participate in effect have to arm and protect themselves from attackers knowing that they will get no real assistance from the government that is taking taxes. In effect this wild west scenario breeds vigilantism and necessity for collective response to malicious actors."
This was published July 1st, before the Coup.
Please understand, the Turkish people are very resilient, but AKP political party has a strong 40% hold on government.
It is a VERY difficult situation to wade into without proper context.
Again, Thanks for your time!
:)
Chris
I agree that information and context are key. People know about Turkey what they hear on the news, and little else. Both governments and media, especially in the West, have been quick to support him. Which is curious, since he is less secular than Assad and arguably just as brutal. I suppose the size of the Turkish armed forces and its strategic positioning both towards the Middle East and Russia make it somewhat different. The Turkish people are going to have an uphill battle to succeed here...
I mean, you have Erdogan claiming that the coup uprising started in Pennsylvania, and the US Homeland Security is staying silent on the issue. They have pushed monitoring public communications since 9/11 for THIS SPECIFIC PURPOSE. You mean that a public leader is accusing a coup from originating from US and Homeland Security had NO IDEA of situation?
Either Homeland Security knew and let it happen, they didn't know and are too busy monitoring Americans, or it didn't come from Pennsylvania. It's pretty clearly one of those three.
Not sure if DHS and NSA are going to step in, but they SHOULD have records to prove one way or the other.
NOW is the time the government spying program needs to be called out.
Agreed...
I suppose my thought are in line with yours. I find it highly improbable that the coup was organized from the US...or that it was done by a religious figure...who on top of that had influence in the military? Yeah...I don't know about that.
Turkish army was secular once....The coup was originated from an islamic group within military. Thats why they failed. All soldiers werent in the coup. Privates was unaware what was going on. We Turkish people are against military coups. I know that goverment is not democratic but that military coup from islamic group was worse than goverment.
It is scary to see a bunch of Americans supporting Erdogan and "praying for end to coup". It is REALLY scary. You can see the rhetoric getting people ready to send the kids to war again. They have started playing more films about kids going to war, and the "glory of serving your country". It is the build up to Iraq all over again. I am glad I am old enough to make the connections, and that luckily it is not yet so draconian in America that I can't post about this. But I have lived in Turkey and seen the censored Internet first hand. The blocked communications first hand. When CNN isn't reporting what is going on for some reason, and people on Facebook are confused as to why you are posting riot scenes from Istanbul, but the "real news" isn't reporting it.
CNN can't keep up the charade for much longer. They are VERY much complicit in all this.
I remember in 2013, they were blacking out the Gezi protests until everyone else had finally started covering them.
John Kerry...
John Kerry will be shown to be at the center of all this on the US side.
Why Kerry?
He was the one making the deals with Putin. John Kerry is at the center of the international meetings that will likely be shown to have been the source of the failed coup. Erdogan had planned the purge of his military, judicial system, and education system before the coup. The timing is too convenient, and at that Kerry has direct involvement being the one who went representing US to fund Kurdish rebels the DAY BEFORE the coup attempt.
He is the Secretary of State, so that certainly makes sense. I'm no expert, but Erdogan has been purging his government and military for a while now, no? This seems to be a final push of sorts...a convenient way to oust the rest of his enemies.