ATTEMPTED COUP IN TURKEY

The Turkish Flag

On the 15^th July 2016, a section of the Turkish military attempted a coup d’état against Turkey’s elected government.  The effort was “short-lived” but gory, with hundreds dead and thousands injured.  The rebels detained top military officers, deployed tanks in the streets, obstructed bridges, took over T.V. stations and promised the Turks to re-establish democracy. 

Ankara, the capital, became a battlefield,   The Security and Intelligence Headquarters and other government buildings were bombed down.  But the attack on the Houses of Parliament was a severe provocation.  Also at 12.37 a.m., Erdogan appeared on a live TV broadcast, on a journalist’s i phone, urging the Turks to defend Democracy.   These were the two main events that changed the public opinion and psychology.   The people thronged the streets by the thousands, fuming and shouting against the coup that was successfully overcome by 4 a.m.

The repercussions were immediate, immensely severe and violent.   900 police officers were suspended from their duties.   99 top ranking military officers have been indicted for complicity in the coup, 14 of whom were remanded in custody.   Also, 6000 petit-officers and soldiers have been detained.   Military justice officials are also under investigation, 262 military judges have been suspended.  60.000 public servants are under persecution.   15.200 employees of the Ministry of Education have been dismissed and 1577 university professors have been asked to resign.  The Council of Higher Education has forbidden all academics to leave the country.   Also, the teachers of private schools had their licenses suspended.   This was a real purge of the academic society.    Moreover, 492 members of the Highest Islamic Authority have been stopped of their duties.  9000 members of the staff of the Ministry of Internal Affairs have been dismissed, the majority being policemen.  Umpteen journalists have been sacked.  It has been reported, that dead rebels were denied a religious burial.   It all seems like a nightmare.

A three-month state of emergency has been imposed in Turkey, also there are rumours and fears that capital punishment would be re-enforced.  Europe and the whole civilized world are deeply “concerned”.
(The information and numbers are, mostly, from newspapers and TV talk-shows.)