A Turkey of a Coup
Published at 09:03 on 18 July 2016
I’ve been out of town for a few days, and was listening to the news from Turkey on the radio yesterday afternoon as I drove home.
As someone pointed out here, it’s a strange coup. Priority Number One for any military that stages a coup d’etat is to deal with the leadership the coup is unseating. Priority Number Two is to make sure as much of the military as possible is going to support the coup.
The “attempted coup” in Turkey failed miserably at both of these priorities, yet it was staged by a military that has ample experience in staging successful coups d’etat. It was staged against a government with an authoritarian streak, one that has in the past used alleged coup attempts to engage in repressive measures.
It’s enough to really make one go “hmmmmm.”