Friday 15 July 2016

Turkish Military Coup

Seems you can't take your eyes off the news channels at the moment as tonight the Turkish military have seized control of the country in a coup.
Tanks and soldiers are on the streets and media outlets have been closed, social media restricted and the whereabouts of President Tayyip Erdogan is unknown although he has given an interview over his mobile phone from an undisclosed destination urging people to go out on the street to respond to the military uprising.  
A statement released from the military announced that they have acted: 'to reinstate constitutional
order, democracy, human rights and freedoms, the rule of law and general security that was damaged'.
Erdogan has been slowly dragging Turkey towards an Islamic state and chipping away at secular and human rights including imprisoning journalists on trumped up charges so he isn't expected to gain much sympathy from the media.  
As well as not being that popular at home, there won't be much sympathy coming from the international community either although they will have to make the right noises about being concerned about events, they won't be that upset if Erdogan does end up being removed from power.
With all coups the success depends on who the military line up behind and as yet it is unknown if this is a coup by the full military or just part of the armed forces in which case we could find ourselves in a Syria situation with part of the military supporting the President facing off against those trying to depose him and reports of military jets overhead and explosions and gunfire being heard doesn't bode well.

No comments: