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No one is claiming that Erdogan is some sort of liberal and not autocratic, but the Turkish government has clearly been elected. And by a margin wide - 50% of the vote, twice that of its nearest rival, that even with reports of violence and intimidation the mandate isn't disputable.
The US president urged [i]"support for the democratically elected civilian government."[/i] Which it obviously is, however flawed its democratic process might be.
There is no comparison with Portugal 1974.
This wasn't even a secularist coup was it, but infighting between Islamists (Gulen and Erdogan). That's why it failed, they didn't have the support of anyone.
So it would appear that when our parties engage in infighting, they call each other names - when Islamists do it they start killing each other with cobra gunships and tanks at the first sign of trouble.
Yeah, puts the fallout from Brexit in perspective.
From what I was hearing of their statement they forced a news presenter at gunpoint to announce, they objected to secular democracy. That smacks of a group wanting a strict religious order in control. Turkey then becomes an extension of Syria, Iraq and Iran.
Which is what Erdogan wants as well, a return to the Ottoman empire.
The secularists condemned the coup, so it does look like infighting between the crazies.
It's all a bit too easy this coup. I wonder if it's all a cunning plan to get rid of certain elements.
Surely it can't that possible to misjudge the mood of the people, so much?
I reckon some people have been played the fool, big time.
As others have mentioned it's the perfect scenario for Erdogan to push through his agenda and i wouldn't be surprised if he knew about it beforehand, all to convenient for a mass cull of judges and those opposed to his policy
it was a staged coup
even the Guardian are suggesting this
Staged. 160 dead ? That would be pretty cynical even for Erdogan.
Its going to be very messy now and devastating for tourism, I'm struggling to think it was staged.
Friends are stuck as no flights for them back today. Strange extra day or two's holiday
dont we have a resident conspiracy theory specialist to tell us the truth
IF it was staged, it won't have been directly staged, Erdogan wil have prodded the right people and planted false intelligence with the right people to convince them to try it.
I think they were Gullens supporters, we know that Islamism gives people the justification to kill easily, I suspect Erdogan knew they were upto something and prodded them into it. That or Erdogan and Gullen are working together again.
Why is it stranger to kill to depose someone, than to consolidate power?
Tom, you are a complete fanny. I don't think I even have to point out why.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gleiwitz_incident
It has historical precedent doesn't it?
I think that Erdogan is repugnant enough to kill hundreds to further his own goals. I wouldn't normally think such thoughts, but he's up there with Pinochet and Tito for general nastiness.