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Re: Turkish Army Attempt to Stage Coup
Turkish army group announces takeover on TV
An army group in Turkey says it has taken over the country, with soldiers at strategic points in Istanbul and jets flying low in the capital, Ankara.
A statement read on TV said a "peace council" now ran the country and there was a curfew and martial law.
It is unclear who the group is or its level of support. Some top army officials are said to be detained.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he would overcome what he called an uprising by a minority.
People across Turkey are very confused and surprised, the BBC's Katy Watson in Istanbul says.
In Washington, US President Barack Obama urged all parties in Turkey to support the "democratically elected government".
Mr Erdogan told CNN Turk by mobile phone the action was by a "parallel structure" that would bring the necessary response. He has used this term in the past to refer to Fethullah Gulen, a US-based Muslim cleric he accuses of fomenting unrest.
Mr Erdogan called on people to take to the streets to oppose the uprising.
He said: "I urge the Turkish people to convene at public squares and airports. I never believed in a power higher than the power of the people."
Mr Erdogan said he was on his way to Ankara and those involved in the action would pay a heavy price. His office said he was in a secure location.
Reports earlier on Friday said the president was on holiday in the south-western resort of Marmaris.
Defying the announced curfew, a number of Erdogan supporters later turned out on Istanbul's central Taksim Square as reports of the attempted coup emerged.
There have since been reports of clashes there, with some on Twitter saying that gunfire has been heard near the square.
PM Binali Yildirim had earlier denounced an "illegal action" by a military "group", stressing it was not a coup. He said that the government remained in charge.
The military group's statement on national broadcaster TRT, read by an announcer, said that democratic and secular rule of law had been eroded by the current government. There would be new constitution, it said.
A Turkish presidential source told Reuters news agency that the statement was not authorised by the army's command.
There are reports Turkey's top general, General Hulusi Akar, is among those taken hostage at the military HQ.
Mr Yildirim told NTV by telephone: "There was an illegal act by a group within the military that was acting out of the chain of military command. Our people should know that we will not allow any activity that would harm democracy."
Traffic has been stopped from crossing both the Bosphorus and Fatih Sultan Mehmet bridges in Istanbul.
There are reports of gunshots and at least one loud explosion in the capital Ankara. Other reports said soldiers were inside buildings of the Turkish state broadcaster in Ankara.
Gunfire was also heard outside Istanbul police HQ and tanks are said to be stationed outside Istanbul airport. All flights are cancelled, reports say.
One European Union source told Reuters that the military action "looks like a relatively well-orchestrated coup by a substantial body of the military, not just a few colonels".
Visiting Moscow, US Secretary of State John Kerry said he hoped for peace and "continuity" in Turkey.
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said he was "very concerned" by events.
Turkey's military coups
1993 - Claims of a "covert coup" intended to prevent a peace settlement with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)
1980 - Military coup following armed conflict between right-wing and left-wing groups in the 1970s
1971 - Military coup known as the "coup by memorandum", which the military delivered instead of sending out tanks
1960 - Coup by group of young military officer outside chain of command, against the democratically-elected Democrat Party
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36809083
Re: Turkish Army Attempt to Stage Coup
Doesn't seem like their would have been a good result from this either way (as an outsider looking in).
I don't know enough though.
Re: Turkish Army Attempt to Stage Coup
A good result woulda been for the coup to have succeeded and disposed this medieval motherfucker.
Turkey was a true secular democracy until recently. This guy appeals to the lowest common denominator and uses his bastardised religion as a vehicle to transform the country into some increasingly wicked & increasingly dangerous caliphate.
- Randall Flagg
- Rep: 139
Re: Turkish Army Attempt to Stage Coup
No military should ever take over control of their country. Civilian control of the military is crucial to any democracy.
Re: Turkish Army Attempt to Stage Coup
Turkey has a history of successful coups. They don't live under a military regime, they give the country back to the people. They shoulda grabbed erdogan first. Everyone knows this! If you're gonna carry out a coup cut off the head first..
The enemy of my enemy..
Re: Turkish Army Attempt to Stage Coup
Considering the US will probably end up invading Turkey in a generation or so to bring "freedom" to the locals, it probably would have been better if the coup was a bit more successful.
On the otherhand had holiday resort Turkey destabilized and ended up like most of the middle east then well... it wouldn't have been good either.
Re: Turkish Army Attempt to Stage Coup
No military should ever take over control of their country. Civilian control of the military is crucial to any democracy.
That's a weird thing to say anyway. As in it's never right for a military to step in & protect its own people from an oppressive government/leader? Surely the fundamental point of a military is to protect its countries people,mine that from threats inside or out.
Re: Turkish Army Attempt to Stage Coup
On the otherhand had holiday resort Turkey destabilized and ended up like most of the middle east then well... it wouldn't have been good either.
It's already well on the road to that sort of state. I tell you it's a sympathetic caliphate where freedoms are being reversed at every cut and turn in the name of religion. The attitudes of its government and some of its people are insane and represent a danger to us. Well maybe not us stationed away over here but our continental cousins.
- Randall Flagg
- Rep: 139
Re: Turkish Army Attempt to Stage Coup
Randall Flagg wrote:No military should ever take over control of their country. Civilian control of the military is crucial to any democracy.
That's a weird thing to say anyway. As in it's never right for a military to step in & protect its own people from an oppressive government/leader? Surely the fundamental point of a military is to protect its countries people,mine that from threats inside or out.
But where is the line drawn? And no government can oppress its people without the military helping them do it. Edrogan can issue edicts, but if his military and police forces don't enforce them, he's a lion with no teeth.
A lot of people in the US thought Bush/Obama was a tyrant. You could spin a million different things to a point it appears a threat. If you believed Bush was behind 9/11, shouldn't you want the military to remove him from power? If you think Obama is setting up FEMA camps to imprison citizens who disagree, shouldn't the military intervene?
I believe in Democracy, as flawed as it is. The military's purpose is to follow the orders of the democratically elected leaders. That Turkey's military has assigned themselves as the keepers of secularism and freedom (an admittedly honorable notion) doesn't mean that they have the legal authority to do so.
As they allegedly had F-16s locked on to Edrogan's plane and didn't fire makes me think this may all have been a hoax anyway, especially with the purging that has occurred since. The EU should put pressure on Turkey to conform to western standards, but I don't believeTurkey will ever be admitted to the EU. It would open Europe to a flood of Islamist like never before as poor, uneducated Arabs enter Turkey through Iraq and Syria. And since you need universal approval to enter the EU, it's very unlikely you're every going to get unanimous consent.
