[Cause]

Kanyemander West, on 16 July 2016 - 01:52 AM, said:

I dunno about all the various outcomes, but consensus seems to be that a failed coup helps legitimize and reinforce his autocratic tendencies.

He is the mastermind behind this coup then! Or I read too many books

I am not a fan of Edrogan but a coup hardly seems better. I hope for Turkey's sake its resolved soon

[Coltaine -]

Okay, coup d'état failed, purge in the army and the judiciary started, a mob on the street that is lynching captives. And death penality is maybe coming back.
Sounds like a good weekend for Erdogan. And like the end of the democracy in Turkey

[Puck]

Yeah, while everyone's blaring about keeping democracy alive by not letting Erdogan be removed. I want to facepalm really badly, but that was to be expected.

[Tiste Simeon]

There is a theory that he engineered this whole thing and while I always take such things lightly, it certainly has worked out extremely well for him... He gets to purge the army and judicial system and replace to people with those he controls, all in the name of "the democratic process."

[Gorefest]

But surely if he has orchestrated this, he wouldn't have had to resort to FaceTime from an airplane? He'd have heroically bounced his image in HD from a bunch of predesignated communication satellites to all available terrestial news feeds.

[Tiste Simeon]

Adds a sense of legitimacy? I dunno...

[champ]

Tiste Simeon, on 18 July 2016 - 07:30 AM, said:

There is a theory that he engineered this whole thing and while I always take such things lightly, it certainly has worked out extremely well for him... He gets to purge the army and judicial system and replace to people with those he controls, all in the name of "the democratic process."

I thought this was all just conspiracy BS but then he's already rounded up 6000 judges/military staff and suspended 8000 officers. That is quick work...

This coup sounds like a cull.

Erdogan screams to me dictator.

[Tapper]

Gorefest, on 18 July 2016 - 11:30 AM, said:

But surely if he has orchestrated this, he wouldn't have had to resort to FaceTime from an airplane? He'd have heroically bounced his image in HD from a bunch of predesignated communication satellites to all available terrestial news feeds.

Then again, a true believer in the revolution might have accidentally shot him and/or people may have figured out this was a sham.

There seems a lot of confusion about who was involved, as the details of this being a Gulenist plot (who mostly had followers in the police apparently) don't completely fit. Neither does the army top seem to be involved. It seems it was fairly badly organised: the attempt to shut down the media was amateurish at best as none of the private stations were closed.
But no matter who was involved, it is Erdogan who profits. The current cull is quite frightening.

I guess this does close the door for a while on Turkey joining the EU, though.

[Cause]

Yes an why is the culling judges? How were they involved?

And it seems like the list must have been ready to go of who to cull or this man is efficient!

[Gorefest]

Yeah, don't think he directly staged the coup but he probably knew that a coup was a likely possibility at some point and there is a good chance he already had a blacklist of people he wanted to get rid of. It probably just happened a bit sooner than expected.

[Mentalist]

Turkey actually had a history of pro-secularist military coups, so the failure of this one is likely a step back.

Not to say Turkey's gonna become Iran 2.0, but it's worrying since Erdogn has been rather pro-traditionalist, to put it mildly. If he had any plans on tightening the screws on human rights etc, the coup certainly gave him a carte blanche to do that and strengthen his personal monopoly on power.

Not sure if he's jailing any of his principal political opponents, or if he is still confident of popular support.

[Studlock]

He didn't have to plan the coup to take advantage of its failure--could he's just an astute dictator who understand politics of authoritarian rule.