EU: Turkey Prepared Purge List Before Failed Coup
Did Erdoğan stage the coup to reign in more power?
European Union commissioner Johannes Hahn told the media he believes President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made his purge list before the coup:
“It looks at least as if something has been prepared. The lists are available, which indicates it was prepared and to be used at a certain stage,” Hahn said.
“I’m very concerned. It is exactly what we feared.”
The government has arrested more than 6,000 people, some who did not even know they participated in the coup. They claimed their commanders told them “they were taking part in military manoeuvres.”
On Friday night, a small fraction of the army tried to overthrow Erdoğan. They did not get very far, with the president arriving in Istanbul later that night. Red flags immediately went off during his press conference:
Erdogan says this insurgency "is a blessing from Allah, because it will allow us to purge the military" from mutineers.
— Mahir Zeynalov (@MahirZeynalov) July 16, 2016
People on social media speculated the government faked the coup as a way for Erdoğan to grab more power:
Ryan Heath, the senior EU correspondent at Politico, used Twitter to share comments from his “Turkish source”, who called the events of Friday night a “fake coup” which would help a “fake democracy warrior” [Erdogan].
The source said: “Probably we’ll see an early election [in] which he’ll try to guarantee an unbelievable majority of the votes. And this will probably guarantee another 10-15 years of authoritarian, elected dictatorship.
“We’ll possibly see a change in the constitution for worse, which secularism will be gone and Islamist motifs will be in!”
Using the hashtag #TheatreNotCoup, a Twitter user calling himself Subsidiarity Man wrote: “Two words: Reichstag fire. The year was 1933 and you know what happened next.”
Another Twitter user quoted “my special friend in Istanbul” as calling what happened: “Most probably a real coup attempt, which was vaguely known beforehand, and was allowed to proceed, because they knew it to be disorganised and weak.
“This means it will be followed by a real coup by Erdogan himself, and the last remnants of democracy will be lost.”
Turkey, a NATO member and a country trying to join the EU, received backing from the West. President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and others said their countries stand behind the democratically elected government and urged the Turkish population to do the same.
However, Erdoğan has long been a thorn in the side of his NATO allies. As prime minister and president he has squashed freedom of speech by jailing and fining anyone who insults him. He has also put restrictions on social media while taking over private media companies who dare question his regime.
Erdoğan and Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım have also demanded the U.S. extradite Fethullah Gülen, leader of the Gülen Movement, who they blame for the coup:
“I do not see any country that would stand behind this man, this leader of the terrorist gang especially after last night. The country that would stand behind this man is no friend to Turkey. It would even be a hostile act against Turkey,” Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım told reporters at a press conference on July 16 as the coup attempt has been foiled earlier in the day.
Secretary of State John Kerry said the U.S. would consider Turkey’s request, but also told them to tone down the rhetoric:
Secretary Kerry also urged restraint by the Turkish government and respect for due process — and its international obligations — as it investigates and uncovers additional information about those involved. He made clear that the United States would be willing to provide assistance to Turkish authorities conducting this investigation, but that public insinuations or claims about any role by the United States in the failed coup attempt are utterly false and harmful to our bilateral relations.
Gülen mentioned the government faked coup in a rare interview to The Guardian:
“I don’t believe that the world believes the accusations made by President Erdoğan,” Gülen said. “There is a possibility that it could be a staged coup and it could be meant for further accusations [against Gülen and his followers].”
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Comments
“Did Erdoğan stage the coup to reign in more power?”
Yes, next question….
If anyone is thinking that all of this is reminiscent of the events of June 30, 1934 to July 2, 1934, that person would merit a gold star.
The Nazis did not burn the Reichstag. They certainly took advantage of it, but there was never any reason to suppose that they had done it. The claim that they did was communist propaganda, and responsible people should not repeat it, because it discredits anything else they say.
Oops, never mind, that was entirely my fault. I have no idea what I was thinking, but I was more than a year off. June 30 1934 was the Night of Long Knives, which was by definition the Nazis’ doing, since it was entirely internal to their party.
Yes, something smells off about a military coup that fails to take down a civil authority.
The real question would be why isn’t there a real military coup?
Because he’s fired all the high-ranking officers who could stage an effective coup, and replaced them with his puppets.
Kim Jong Un has a “special” way with his people, too.
The existence of a wish list of people he’d like to get rid of does not itself imply that the coup was staged as a ruse. He may just do a lot of wishful thinking. Most people do. Or, it may not have been all that wishful, coup or not; his efforts to consolidate power in Turkey have been proceeding perfectly well for years without the need for any elaborate deceptions. That may be the strongest reason for suspecting that the coup attempt, such as it was, was genuine; Erdogan simply had no reason to stage it. It would, perhaps, help him to get Gülen, and there is some time pressure on that, as it’s probably essential to try while President Weak Sister is in the Oval Office. Neither Hillary nor Trump are likely to be such patsies.
He had no reason to stage it? Are you kidding me?
Just look at what he’s done in the couple days since then. He’s arrested everybody that would have dared question him, hamstrung the military from ever staging a REAL coup, and is filling all the now empty spots in the military with his supporters and puppets.
There is a large amount of evidence that this was staged. Nobody even attempted to arrest or assassinate Erdogan – that’s step freaking 1 of any coup. Then, apparently none of the troops on the streets even knew there was a coup going on, they thought it was a military exercise. And finally, apparently a whole bunch of the troops in the alleged coup DIDN’T EVEN HAVE AMMO – again, because it was allegedly a training exercise.
This theatre has effectively installed Erdogan as dictator for life of Turkey.
Unless you are Stalin, a legit list would be an org chart of who you would like to be in your government, not who you want to have “disappeared”
New Headline: Erdoğan Concerned About Reaction To Next Weeks Spontaneous Lynching Of Political Opponents.
(Credit: Instapundit and various other conservative commentators)
A government staging a fake event in order to consolidate its power and push its agenda? Nah, such things don’t happen in real life ~
/sarc
Totally agree! Real coups here in the 21st century lure their tools with empty promises of “Hope & Change” to lure the rubes.
A purge in Turkey. A purge in America. There are no ulterior motives, just [class] diversity schemes.