# Attempted Coup in Turkey
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attempted-coup-in-turkey/760001
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [July 15, 2016, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attempted-coup-in-turkey/760001 "2016-07-15T20:27:51Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2016, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attempted-coup-in-turkey/760001/41 "2016-07-15T21:24:55Z")
This is the second time in three weeks that Ataturk Airport has been shut down.
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### Author:  [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2016, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attempted-coup-in-turkey/760001/42 "2016-07-15T21:26:27Z")
Democracy has been undermined, so we’re going to rule you by martial law!
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### Author:  [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2016, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attempted-coup-in-turkey/760001/43 "2016-07-15T21:28:42Z")
> [@Richard\_Parker](#):
>
> Democracy has been undermined, so we’re going to rule you by martial law!
Until things calm down, that’s perfectly reasonable.
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### Author:  [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2016, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attempted-coup-in-turkey/760001/44 "2016-07-15T21:29:48Z")
> [@levdrakon](#):
>
> Until things calm down, that’s perfectly reasonable.
“Until things calm down…” -motto of military autocrats since 1963!
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### Author:  [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2016, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attempted-coup-in-turkey/760001/45 "2016-07-15T21:30:20Z")
Actually, I would guess that the issue is that the new Prime Minister was installed, and that has probably finished putting in the pieces for a constitutional amendment to be passed. They’re pre-empting Erdogan from being able to utilize the pawns that he’s filled the government with. So even though he’s been well behaved for a while, the real bad stuff was probably imminent.
> **[Turkey shifts to presidential system, even without constitutional change](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkey-politics-idUSKCN0YE1M3)**
>
> As Turkey's incoming prime minister prepares to name his new cabinet, there is little doubt that its primary role will be to rubber-stamp what has already become reality: a shift to a full presidential system with Tayyip Erdogan firmly in charge.
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### Author:  [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2016, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attempted-coup-in-turkey/760001/46 "2016-07-15T21:32:08Z")
SDMB, still first with the news. Turkey not yet appearing on the Yahoo or Reuters sites, and the second story (after Nice followup) on AP.
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2016, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attempted-coup-in-turkey/760001/47 "2016-07-15T21:34:38Z")
> [@levdrakon](#):
>
> Until things calm down, that’s perfectly reasonable.
> [@Richard\_Parker](#):
>
> Democracy has been undermined, so we’re going to rule you by martial law!
They just want to figure out what the hell is going on.
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### Author:  [@Ramira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ramira)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2016, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attempted-coup-in-turkey/760001/48 "2016-07-15T21:35:55Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#):
>
> Democratically elected people generally don’t build things like that for themself.
but he is democratically elected and he did. Et alors?
> [@](#):
>
> I welcome a more secular Turkey.
the excuse for supporting military dictatorship, “seculairsm.”
wonderful deep is the commitment of the Westerners to democracy except when they don’t like its results.
Erdogan was becoming terrible, that does not make military dictatorship and coups a correct step.
> [@levdrakon](#):
>
> It seems to have been the best choice for Egypt.
no it was not the best choice, it has been a terrible choice, even compared to the terrible Brotherhood.
> [@Richard\_Parker](#):
>
> Yeah, if you’re into torturing and murdering Islamists. I think that’s a pretty short-sighted view, notwithstanding its popularity in Washington D.C. and Tel Aviv.
Exactly
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### Author:  [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2016, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attempted-coup-in-turkey/760001/49 "2016-07-15T21:36:20Z")
Latest:
> [@](#):
>
> The Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said that the coup is the work of a minority within the military.
>
> Speaking to CNN Turk, he adds: “We will overcome this.”
That is indeed the question: has the coup got the backing of the military generally across the country, or not?
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### Author:  [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2016, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attempted-coup-in-turkey/760001/50 "2016-07-15T21:37:08Z")
Slate did an [interview](http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/interrogation/2016/07/jenny_white_on_recep_tayyip_erdogan_isis_and_turkey_s_troubles.html) summing up the situation there last week.
Turkey really needs Western help to contain the chaos on its southern border. It also would like to join the EU. That comes with a lot of rules about democracy, religious freedom, etc. Erdogan has gone power crazy and was going the wrong way on most everything. He has alienated the military quite a bit.
The good news is that a crackpot may be gone. The bad news is that the Turkish military tends to “solve” all problems with military methods.
Will the German comic who insulted Erdogan get his case thrown out now?
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### Author:  [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2016, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attempted-coup-in-turkey/760001/51 "2016-07-15T21:39:59Z")
> [@Richard\_Parker](#):
>
> “Until things calm down…” -motto of military autocrats since 1963!
Turkey has a history of turning things over to the democratic process a few years after a coup. This isn’t the first coup the military has led.
> **[Category:Military coups in Turkey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Military_coups_in_Turkey)**
>
> This category has the following 2 subcategories, out of 2 total.
> The following 7 pages are in this category, out of 7 total. This list may not reflect recent changes.
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### Author:  [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2016, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attempted-coup-in-turkey/760001/52 "2016-07-15T21:40:34Z")
Apparently, Erdoğan’s asking for people to “go out into the streets and resist.”
That is a grave sign for him–when you control the organs of state power you don’t need or even want the public out causing trouble.
It is starting to look like I was wrong in my initial impression and the coup is succeeding. But still too early to call.
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### Author:  [@Ramira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ramira)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2016, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attempted-coup-in-turkey/760001/53 "2016-07-15T21:42:02Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#):
>
> Actually, I would guess that the issue is that the new Prime Minister was installed, and that has probably finished putting in the pieces for a constitutional amendment to be passed. They’re pre-empting Erdogan from being able to utilize the pawns that he’s filled the government with. So even though he’s been well behaved for a while, the real bad stuff was probably imminent.
>
> [http://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkey-politics-idUSKCN0YE1M3](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkey-politics-idUSKCN0YE1M3)
There is also the issuing of the indictments yesterday against the Gülen sympathisers, after this may the Erdogan government declared their former allies of the Gülen movement “terrorists.”
it may be the Kemalist and the Gülenists factions have united…
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### Author:  [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2016, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attempted-coup-in-turkey/760001/54 "2016-07-15T21:43:15Z")
That Erdogan statement was via Facetime or Skype on the reporter’s iPhone. That rather suggests that he isn’t particularly close to the apparatus of state at the moment.
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### Author:  [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2016, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attempted-coup-in-turkey/760001/55 "2016-07-15T21:43:44Z")
I wonder if having Erdogan out of the country was part of the plan? Maybe with him safe he’s less likely to risk his life by trying to get back power. He might just give up, take the millions he’s no doubt embezzled from the government, and move to Tahiti, or wherever former dictators go to nowadays.
The terror attack in Nice also conveniently kept the world’s attention away from Turkey.
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### Author:  [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2016, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attempted-coup-in-turkey/760001/56 "2016-07-15T21:44:43Z")
Rumor has it Erdogan is seeking asylum in Germany after being denied landing in Istanbul.
Edit: [https://twitter.com/24heuropegr/status/754068512088489985](https://twitter.com/24heuropegr/status/754068512088489985)
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### Author:  [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2016, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attempted-coup-in-turkey/760001/57 "2016-07-15T21:52:47Z")
> [@Hector\_St\_Clare](#):
>
> > [@dalej42](#):
> >
> > Had there ever been a coup in an active NATO member country? Maybe Greece?
>
> Greece had a right wing coup in 1967 and Portugal had a left wing coup in 1974.
Turkey joined NATO in 1952 and there have been multiple military coups since then. The last successful one was in 1980. On some occasions the military has issued “memorandums” telling the government to knock off doing certain things thought to threaten democracy. The last time they did this was in 1997 and it brought about the resignation of the government and got the Welfare Party banned for being too Islamist.
Looks like something similar is happening today.
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### Author:  [@Ramira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ramira)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2016, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attempted-coup-in-turkey/760001/58 "2016-07-15T21:53:04Z")
> [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](#):
>
> The terror attack in Nice also conveniently kept the world’s attention away from Turkey.
hopefully this is a kind of bad joke made in ignorance.
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### Author:  [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2016, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attempted-coup-in-turkey/760001/59 "2016-07-15T21:55:44Z")
> [@Ramira](#):
>
> wonderful deep is the commitment of the Westerners to democracy except when they don’t like its results.
Yes, that’s how it works. It’s why the United States has a Bill of Rights which is not subject to being overturned by mere majority rule: because there are things in the world that are more important than democracy.
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### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2016, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attempted-coup-in-turkey/760001/60 "2016-07-15T21:59:27Z")
> [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](#):
>
> I wonder if having Erdogan out of the country was part of the plan? Maybe with him safe he’s less likely to risk his life by trying to get back power. He might just give up, take the millions he’s no doubt embezzled from the government, and move to Tahiti, or wherever former dictators go to nowadays.
Of course it was part of the plan. It’s much harder to make sure loyalist leaders remain loyal over the phone than it is in person, alongside them, in the trenches. People have a hard time risking their life for someone who isn’t risking his.
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