Coup Underway in Turkey

I had to run out to the doctor. No, actually, I had to sit in a pool and drink margaritas.

In the meantime, those strange moves in Turkey seem to have been confirmed as a full-on coup against the Islamist/authoritarian Erdogan.

Erdogan says "we will overcome this."

Prof Omer Taspinar, a senior fellow at Brookings Institution who has repeatedly warned of a military coup in Turkey in recent months, said a critical question would be the degree to which the entire military command was involved in the attempted coup:

The situation is really fluid. Right now the question is whether the attempted coup is from the top command, with the top brass involved, or a colonel-level or officer-coup, from a certain segment of the army. There are indications right now that it is the latter. The chief of staff of the military has not spoken yet and traditionally with Turkish coups you would expect the head of the military to be on TV taking command.”

He continued: “This will rattle the Turkish markets. It will tarnish the country’s image. My analysis is that this will certainly be embarrassing for the country’s recently re-elected president, Recep Erdoğan. The signs are chaotic right now but I think the rumors of Erdoğan’s demise would be highly exaggerated given he has been on TV.”

There is chaos and confusion in Turkey amid reports of an attempted military coup.
Turkey’s armed forces have said they “fully seized control” of the country on Friday night.

Turkish soldiers secure the area as supporters of Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan protest in Istanbul’s Taksim Square.

Turkish soldiers secure the area as supporters of Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan protest in Istanbul’s Taksim Square. Photograph: Emrah Gurel/AP
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has called on Turks to take to the streets in a show of support for the government.

Erdoğan just made a statement in an interview over FaceTime with CNN Turk.
Prime minister Binali Yıldırım said: “Our people should know that we will not allow any activity that would harm democracy.”

Gunshots are being heard in the capital Ankara as military planes flew low overhead.
Soldiers have blocked entry to Atatürk airport, and four stations are reportedly stationed there.

posted by Ace at 06:38 PM

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