Military Coup in Turkey: President Erdogan and Divided Nation
Nuray Lydia Oglu, Takeshi Hasegawa, and Lee Jay Walker
Modern Tokyo Times
President Erdogan of Turkey is hiding behind security officials while a minor coup is taking place. Various images showing a rattled Erdogan are far from the Ottoman strongman that he likes to play in front of loyal supporters. Therefore, the authority of the leader of Turkey is certainly being shaken, even if the coup fails quickly.
It is known that a minor contingent of soldiers started manning strategic areas in Ankara and Istanbul. A media statement that condemned the Erdogan government followed the manning of strategic parts of both cities.
Voice of America reports, “The situation was fluid through the night, with reports of explosions, including at least two bombs striking parliament in Ankara, gunfire in Istanbul, and reports of a Turkish fighter jet shooting down a helicopter used by coup plotters. Early Saturday, police officers and military traded gunfire at Taksim Square, with reports saying military soldiers then laid down their arms.”
According to most Western media outlets, they believe that the coup will soon be under control. Yet, even if this is factual, it is clear that Erdogan is dividing the nation state. This applies to politics, religion, and ethnic issues involving the Kurds. At the same time, Erdogan is re-writing the political rules in order to preserve power at all costs.
Regionally, Turkey supported various sectarian forces against secular Syria in line with several Gulf and NATO powers. Despite this, the government of Syria simply refuses to give in to the countless international intrigues against this nation. In time, regional convulsions re-ignited the Kurdish question inside Turkey based on ISIS (Islamic State – IS) and other sectarian forces killing Kurds in northern Syria.
Not surprisingly, just like Pakistan involved itself in supporting sectarian Sunni Islamist terrorists in Afghanistan, then blowback is happening in Turkey just like the reality of modern day Pakistan. This is further increasing instability in Turkey and the same applies to the growing conflict in Kurdish areas inside this nation.
The Guardian reports, “Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has alarmed many with his staunchly Islamist and increasingly authoritarian views, especially in the military, which has traditionally seen itself as a guardian of the country’s secular heritage, embodied by Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the modern republic. The president’s rhetoric has polarized the country and inflamed ethnic and sectarian tensions.”
Modern Tokyo Times in a past article stated, “Turkey is now on the path of self-styling itself on Pakistan and this applies to gradual Islamization, increasing terrorism, foreign intrigues, greater divisions within society and shackling independent voices. Therefore, in modern day Turkey the other – be they socialists, secularists, Kurds, Alevis, and so forth – face further marginalization and sinister intrigues based on the policies of Erdogan.”
Events are still ongoing in Ankara and Istanbul. Therefore, it is too difficult to provide the full picture. However, it is clear that the coup is larger than originally thought because Erdogan is visibly shaken by events despite his usual rhetoric. Also, if so minor, then events would have ended quickly.
http://www.voanews.com/content/article/3420312.html
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/16/how-recep-tayyip-erdogan-inflamed-tensions-in-turkey
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