Autocrat Recep Tayyip Erdogan continues to consolidate his power in Turkey, this time in response to a coup that may or may not have been real. From Doug Bandow at Forbes via davidstockmanscontracorner.com:
Recep Tayyip Erdogan has ruled Turkey for more than a decade. He should be enjoying his time of triumph. He towers above the political system, able to create and dismiss governments at will.
The mayor turned prime minister turned president created a new, victorious Islamic movement. He eradicated the gaggle of old, squabbling secular parties. He promoted more business-friendly policies, generating prosperity for those previously left behind. And he won support from women, academics, and liberals as he defanged the military, which long was the ultimate arbiter of Turkish politics.
Yet his country almost crashed and burned on Friday. Elements of the army and air force attempted a coup d’etat. Airports were closed. State television was occupied. Planes bombed the parliament. Tanks blocked the bridge which crosses the Bosphorus, sundering the land link between Europe and Asia. Soldiers and police battled in the streets. Loyalists’ planes attacked renegades’ helicopters and tanks. Army forces besieged the intelligence agency’s headquarters. Insurgents detained the army chief of staff and other top officers. Civilians confronted the coup’s foot soldiers.
At last count nearly 300 people were killed and almost 1500 were injured. So far some 3000 members of the military have been arrested, and that number is likely to rise. Erdogan promised revenge against those involved, who will “pay a heavy price for their treason.”
No doubt they will, since the thin-skinned Erdogan long has been making even mild critics suffer for their alleged sins. To tame the military his government previously tried hundreds of military officers and others in mass trials involving improbably fantastic conspiracies, such as the Ergenekon and Sledgehammer cases. After the police and prosecutors had the temerity to investigate members of his government and family for corruption, he purged justice personnel. He now is targeting Kurdish parliamentarians for allegedly supporting “terrorism” by Kurdish separatists.
Turkey is one of the least friendly nations for independent journalists. Many have been jailed and an estimated 900 have been forced from their jobs. The government simply seized television stations and newspapers from private owners. Around 2000 people, including politicians, schoolkids, and even a former beauty queen, have been prosecuted for criticizing Erdogan. His government periodically targets internet freedom, which provides one of the few remaining means to organize against his authoritarian rule. (And, ironically, which he used to call his supporters to the streets to defeat the coup.)
For these reasons, there were at least a few Turkish citizens as well as foreign observers who privately hoped the putsch would end a political experiment gone awry. The briefly constituted junta announced that it had seized power “to reinstall the constitutional order, democracy, human rights and freedoms, to ensure that the rule of law once again reigns in the country, for last and order to be reinstated.” Worthy objectives for an increasingly desperate Turkey today, and, in the view of some, if it took the military to remove an authoritarian Islamist from power, so be it. After all, that’s what the Turkish armed forces did for years. Why not again?
To continue reading: Erdogan’s Reichstag Fire
