Military Coup against Erdogan or Erdogan’s Coup against the Military?
Military coups which have happened in the world and our country (against the national government of Dr. Mosaddegh) during the last century have always been bloody; the coup launched by the Indonesian military against Sokarno which filled the streets of Jakarta with blood or the coup led by Pinochet in Chile which led to the massacre of Allende supporters and was backed by the US.
In the recent coup in Turkey, which is called by political commentators as an engineered coup due to the measures taken by those who launched the coup and Erdogan’s reaction, the situation has changed and the anti-coup part has attempted to kill those who were responsible for the coup. In the July 16th coup in Turkey, while the coup planners bombarded Turkey’s parliament, which is one of the bunkers of Erdogan’s opposition parties, not even one bullet was shot at the newly-built presidential palace in Ankara or the Prime Minister’s office. Three hours after the coup, Turkey’s public television channel, which is usually among the first targets of the coup-launchers, was broadcasting its regular programs. Many political observers consider this coup to be directed by Erdogan and the Justice and Development Party. What is certain is that even if this coup was not coordinated with the government, the amount of readiness and reaction of Erdogan and his supporters for the suppression of his opponents was far more than the other side to remove Erdogan from power! It is not clear whether what happened in Turkey was the army’s coup against Erdogan or Erdogan’s coup against the army! What I remember from the bloody coups during the last half a century in the four continents of the world except Oceania is that most of the coups were aimed at achieving the demands and the interests of the coup militaries and in many cases were backed by the US or the former Soviet Union.
In the recent coup in Turkey, although the parliament was bombarded and there were sporadic clashes in Istanbul and Ankara, the measures which were taken by the government supporters against the junior members of the army and soldiers as supporters of the coup were inhumane and horrific. Beheading the soldiers, cutting off the ears of the officers and lashing them and widespread dismissal of the military officers and judges of Turkey with the accusation of cooperating with Gulen were done so hastily and planned that it seemed as if Gulen, who is accused of leading the coup, has given the list of his cooperatives to Erdogan and his government!
The brutal treatment of those accused of being involved in the coup during the past few days shows that there is no clear horizon in Turkey to observe the principles of human rights and freedom. If Erdogan treats his Turk opponents as such and violates human rights, how will he treat the minorities who reside in Turkey, including the Armenians, Kurds, Arabs and followers of other religions? What happened in Turkey during the last few days is nothing compared to what happened in southern and south-eastern regions of this country during the last six months.