After President Erdoğan appeared on TV, we learned that he would be coming to Istanbul.  But the situation in Istanbul at that moment was nightmarish.  Erdoğan was on the air for quite some time as he kept fielding journalists’ questions, but even as he spoke, sporadic gunfire could be heard coming from the bridges and helicopters were passing overhead in our neighborhood.

At that time, that is to say between 01:00 – 02:00 after midnight, facebook was still open, and I was messaging with other people and trying to keep an eye on our television screen while also listening to what was going on outside.  The Turkish parliament, continuing its session in defiance of the junta, continued to be shown on all channels other than TRT.  As we kept watching on TV, large numbers of Turkish citizens began to form crowds around the junta’s troops, and amazing images of citizens on tanks began to materialize. But in our neighborhood, helicopters continued to pass overhead, and ambulances and fire trucks began to stream toward the Bosphorus bridges.

Around 02:45 I noticed suddenly, after an interval, that the helicopters had disappeared, but as I wondered about that I heard a sound that I really feared:  the scream of an F-16.  Many people may have enjoyed watching F-16s at air shows, but the sound of a low-flying fighter jet has an entirely different meaning in this region of the world.

The jet passed around several times and I listened to its approaches and passes with, frankly, great apprehension.  We had already been watching footage of the junta’s F-16s streaking over Ankara, and we knew that they, as well as their helicopters, were killing people with bombs, rockets or machine guns. We had also heard that friendly F-16s had taken off from Eskişehir, but we didn’t know which direction they were going.  And there was no way to know whether the jet flying over our neighborhood was friendly or hostile.

Then the jet made yet another pass that was accompanied by a massive explosion, or what sounded like one.  Only much later did we learn that it was probably a sonic boom that the pilot purposefully created to frighten the people below.  All I knew was that it was massive and rattled not only our windows but our entire building.  I thought they had started to bomb something near the bridges.

Shaken and trying to remain calm, I called my partner into the hall in our apartment, and we moved our eight month-old baby’s crib into the hallway, too, so he might be protected against any shattered windows.  We sheltered there for another 30 minutes until we were sure that the jet wouldn’t return.  This ordeal was terrifying.

Around 03:15 we decided to move the crib back into the bedroom since the jet hadn’t reappeared.  My partner also tried to go back to sleep.  About five minutes later, two more massive explosions hit our building, but from a great distance.  They were unlike anything I’d heard before.  The sound was low-pitched but very intense; as it approached it seemed to roll and growl, and then hit with great force, despite the distance, and again rattled the building as well as the windows.  That happened twice, about a minute apart.  Once more I assumed that it was some sort of explosion, but in the morning concluded that they had been sonic booms created by the F-16s.  All of this was extremely disturbing.

This was at about 03:30.  When I once more turned to television, the anchor on one of the channels said that their building had been subject to a massive explosion, and was quite distraught.  I assumed that it must have been one of the explosions that we too had felt; later it, too, turned out to have been a sonic boom. When I went to look at facebook, I found it cut off, but twitter was still active.

In the minutes before that time, President Erdoğan’s plane had landed in Istanbul, and its safe arrival was announced on all channels.  Sometime later, he appeared on television at the airport and made a short announcement, reiterating some of the information he had provided from the cell phone feed. It was clear from his body language and facial expression that he was also shaken by the events.  He later spoke in front of the citizens massed at the airport.

For the next several hours, trying to swallow my fear, I sat and flipped through the TV channels while listening to sounds from outside.  Gunfire continued to come from the bridges, and in the distance jets could still be heard, but not often.  I continued to read twitter messages but was focused mostly on watching events unfold on television.  The junta had even bombed the parliament building in Ankara, but thankfully it appeared that no one had been killed despite heavy damage. MPs had moved to shelter in the basement of the building, but continued to appear on live feeds.

Back on television, incredible things were happening.  The citizens of Istanbul and Ankara had taken to the streets, surrounded the junta’s troops, and either convinced them to surrender or wrestled them into submission.  From many locations there materialized pictures of citizens on top of tanks or armored personnel carriers, banging with their fists on the hatches.  Reports about a growing dead toll began to flow in.  CNN Türk was occupied by junta troops and taken off the air, but shortly later returned to broadcasting.  All other channels defiantly continued to air anti-coup information.

Around 02:30 a message from the state security apparatus announced that the coup attempt had been thwarted, but clearly the situation on the streets was anything but calm, and the junta’s forces were still able to operate, using helicopters to send platoons of soldiers to various locations.  Torn between hope and fear, I continued to watch events unfold.

Serbestiyet, 21.07.2016

After the junta’s “official” statement that was  broadcast by the TRT around midnight, my grim expectation was for all other TV channels to be also occupied and taken off the air.  So I began to surf whatever was “still” available even more intensely.  Observers have wondered why the coup plotters didn’t shut down public media as one of their first steps.  We now know, however, that a very early stage they did attack the Turksat facilities in Ankara.  Apparently they wholly  intended to destroy the Turksat facilities, which would have cut TV access for a large section of the Turkish populace.

When that plan didn’t succeed, they were forced to try to occupy TV stations singly, and that made the TRT their first natural target.  In the following hours, they also occupied the Doğan Media center, and briefly took CNN Türk off the air.  There were further rumors to the effect that 24TV, a channel friendly to the AKP government, would also be occupied.  But by that point in the coup attempt it was already clear that the junta didn’t have the resources to go after each and every TV channel in this way.

While these events were visible on television, sounds of sporadic gunfire were coming from the Bosphorus bridges.  Military helicopters began to fly over our neighborhood from time to time.  Concurrently, announcements from politicians continued to arrive on television, with the main opposition leader, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu of the CHP, as well as Devlet Bahçeli of the MHP, both releasing strong statements condemning the coup attempt.  Then there took place what will probably remain the single most defining moment of the coup’s failure.

For several hours it wasn’t clear where President Erdoğan was, but other prominent AKP leaders  were constantly on the air. Around 00:30, President Erdoğan finally appeared — on a live feed via cell phone on CNN Türk.  Here is one thing that should be mentioned:  by then all TV channels, regardless of previous political allegiences, had united in open opposition to the coup.  The channel President Erdoğan first called was CNN Türk, which has been an opposition channel for many years, and is owned by Aydın Doğan, one of Turkey’s most powerful media barons.  And Doğan had clashed with the AKP on a number of occasions.

Of course, the fact that Erdoğan was not in front of TV cameras was disconcerting because that meant he was in some kind of precarious, endangered situation.  Later, I understood that President Erdoğan was still in Marmaris when he spoke on CNN Türk.  In any case, it was via that cell phone feed that President Erdoğan called on the Turkish people to resist the coup.  Almost immediately, most channels began to show Turkish citizens milling around the entrance to Istanbul’s Atatürk Airport, haranguing the troops ordered by the putschists to guard the driveway.

Many details are still somewhat vague, but by morning (on the 16th) it was clear that the coup plotters had aimed specifically at capturing or even killing President Erdoğan.  A prominent Gülenist by the name of Tuncay Opçin (who appears to have fled to the U.S. last year) tweeted, about 36 hours before the event, two rhyming lines: yatakta basıp, şafakta asacaklar (1). That means “they’ll catch him in bed and hang him at dawn” (2).  This is especially chilling because that’s exactly what the Purple Beret commandos that launched the Marmaris raid tried to do, and Opçin was so confident of the outcome that he tweeted these cryptic lines, which of course were apt to be taken as a non-specific hate message, a day and a half before the event.

After Erdoğan flew to Istanbul, details began to emerge about what the plotters had tried to do to him.  Erdoğan mentioned on TV that the hotel where he was staying was “bombed” after he left, and that F-16 fighters loyal to the junta had “harassed” (tâciz etti) the president’s plane on its journey from Dalaman airport to  Istanbul.

Several hours later we learned that the junta leaders had actually sent three helicopters carrying 40 soldiers (or four squads) of the Turkish military’s most dangerous killers, the Purple Beret commandos, to either abduct Erdoğan from his hotel or assassinate him on the spot. Arriving after the president had left, they attacked the hotel but were repulsed by the Special Operations policemen that had been left behind. Two (later three) policemen from the president’s security detail were reported killed in the process. We wouldn’t learn just how close the situation had been until Sunday, when footage from the hotel’s security cameras showing the commandos entering the hotel was obtained by the press, and footage taken by civilians of a helicopter firing rockets into the hotel also emerged (3).

The extent of the coup plot also became more clear as reports of clashes in various strategic places across Ankara and Istanbul emerged.  Naturally, this increased my unease.  The plans for the coup had apparently been incubating for some time, and tweets from Gülenists seemed to provide evidence for this.  Last year Emre Uslu, another prominent Gülenist sighted in the U.S. as recently as March 2016, tweeted in reply to an inquiry from another user about when he would return to Turkey. “July 2016,” he wrote (4).  I wonder if he had already purchased his tickets.

NOTES

(1) https://twitter.com/ragipsoylu/status/754105589446344704

(2) A note about Turkish grammar: in Turkish it is possible to write a message such as Opçin’s without separately indicating any sort of pronoun (because it is already in the suffixes).  Those who are “in” on the message will instantaneously understand the unstated yet very specific reference. The Turkish of the message, translated literally into English, would read: “they’ll catch [him] in bed and hang [him] at dawn.”

(3) That must have happened just before sunrise on Saturday, since the first light of dawn is visible in the footage.  But by that time everyone in the country knew that Erdoğan was already in Istanbul. Possibly the junta troops that attacked the hotel were not aware of this, having been deployed only after Erdoğan’s facetime appearance revealed his whereabouts.

(4) https://twitter.com/ragipsoylu/status/754294122157080576. A shout out to Ragıp Soylu for bringing the Opçin and Uslu tweets to everyone’s attention.

Serbestiyet, 19.07.2016

During Friday night’s coup attempt against Turkey’s democratically elected political leadership, I tried, from time to time, to keep an eye on what the international media, including specifically the NYT, were reporting about the situation.  What I saw was shocking and disgusting, and for most of the night I couldn’t bring myself to do more than scan the thoroughly abhorrent headlines that the NYT posted.

I’m still trying to digest what they published, and I plan to write on that topic after more consideration.  For now, I just want to communicate to readers what we experienced Friday night from our neighborhood near the Bosphorus bridges.

Like everyone else, at around 22:00 Friday evening I noticed that something was happening as social media began to be flooded by people posting confused messages about soldiers on the Bosphorus bridges and rumors of a coup.  At first I thought maybe some sort of threat to the bridges had been spotted, but once pictures started hitting facebook and twitter, it became clear that a coup attempt was underway.  However, I should stress that at first, news about what was happening was extremely focused on just one or two places.  The overall scope of the event was not clear until much later.

So I tuned on the TV, and the first notices were beginning to show up on various channels, indicating that something was indeed happening. Simultaneously, panicked messages from friends began to hit my facebook account.  So I began a night of moving back and forth between the TV and my computer, trying to keep track of events and messages.

For those who are wondering, in the first hours of the evening facebook slowed, but then later resumed normal speed.  But in the early hours of 16th July, around 02:30 after midnight, facebook was essentially blocked off.  On the other hand, twitter remained open and functioning at normal speed throughout the night.

But I want to explain something important.  Over those first two hours, general confusion about exactly what was happening gave way to a degree of clarification through announcements from leading political figures.  In the same time-frame, I tried to explain to friends what was obvious:  whatever was happening, it was Fethullah Gülen’s people in the military who were the instigators.

Why was this so obvious?  For those who have remained clear-eyed about events in Turkey over the past four years, unfortunately it was not a complete surprise that Gülen’s followers in the military should be attempting a coup.  Since (a) the Hakan Fidan incident of February 2012 (when the minutes of the secret Oslo talks between the government and the PKK were leaked in an attempt to discredit Turkey’s intelligence boss and Erdoğan’s right-hand man Hakan Fidan), and (b) the sudden and explosive December 2013 attempt to launch judicial investigations into top-ranking AKP figures over allegations of corruption… it has been clear that of the two former allies, Fethullah Gülen and Tayyip Erdoğan, the former was now challenging not only the latter but the entire democratic régime in a final quest for political supremacy.  The fundamental difference between these two, of course, is that Erdoğan is a political leader who has been repeatedly elected by massive margins over the past fifteen years, while Gülen is a cult leader who uses his brain-washed followers to pursue his political pretensions.

Furthermore, over the past several months rumors had been circulating that Gülen’s adherents in the Turkish security forces were mobilizing for yet another extraordinary initiative, perhaps a putsch.  In response, only a couple of days ago the AKP leadership announced that this year’s High Board of Military Staff Affairs (Yüksek Askeri Şura) would be focused on purging Gülen’s followers from the security forces.  For Gülen’s cultists, it was now or never.  And they had no compunctions about wreaking havoc and damage, opening fire on Turkish civilians, and even bombing the Turkish parliament in the name of their insane devotion to Hocaefendi.

As the evening progressed, the first important announcement came from PM Binali Yıldırım, who around 22:30 told the nation that an “uprising” was under way, and that it was coming from a group acting outside the armed forces chain of command.  He also stressed that it would be b rought to a halt.  So we began to watch events unfold apprehensively.

TV channels — at least a dozen were broadcasting all night — showed that the Bosphorus bridges had been occupied by soldiers, but I can’t see the bridges from my apartment, so I could only watch on TV and listen for sounds coming from that direction.  The other main image was of tanks and armored personnel carriers at the entrance to Istanbul’s Atatürk Airport.  Outside, the streets emptied.  On facebook I tried to post informative items and to answer questions.

Between 23:00 and 24:00 a Turkish intelligence official informed the media that an attempted coup was underway and that it would be promptly suppressed.  That was cause for hope, but right around midnight, 00:00 hours, something deeply disturbing happened.

Until about 23:30, programming on the Turkish state broadcaster TRT, Turkish Radio and Television, had continued as normal.  But then at 00:00 an anchorwoman appeared on the screen and began to read an announcement.  She was obviously frightened, reading slowly and enunciating the words carefully.  The over-long and wholly cliché-ridden declaration stated, among other things, that the military had taken over all state institutions and formed an interim governing council. Immediately, similar pronouncements from especially the 1960 and 1980 coups were recalled, and even though it seemed increasingly clear that the coup was not likely to succeed, the announcement was still frightening.  In this sort of situation, when one cannot in any case know exactly what is happening, to have the state broadcaster suddenly taken over by the junta’s troops was bound to have an impact.  We didn’t know, we couldn’t possibly know, that there were actually less than ten soldiers inside the TRT building.

Personally, I truly became worried at that point.  I worried for Turkey and for the future of my eight-month old son.  Surely Turkey was not going to be dragged back into a nightmare of military violence from the past?

Serbestiyet, 19.07.2016

September 1961. Geneva, Switzerland. A Turkish classmate of mine named Turgut burst into my room, crying, ‘those bastards just hanged my father!’

The ‘bastards’ in question were Turkey’s generals. They had  overthrown the civilian government of Adnan Menderes and hanged my friend’s father. Since, then, the mighty Turkish armed forces has tried to overthrow the government about every ten years.

Last weekend’s military coup in Turkey was the fifth coup since the 1960’s. Many had believed the mighty, 610,000-man Turkish armed forces, backed by 379,000 trained reserves, NATO’s second largest  forces after the US, had finally been driven back to its barracks by the popular democratic AK party government of  President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

So it seemed until last Friday when tanks seized the two Bosphorus bridges in Istanbul, and attacks were staged against key targets, like TV stations, the intelligence HQ, and government buildings. Five very senior generals and 25 colonels were reportedly at the core of the uprising.

A special commando team was sent to capture or, more likely, kill President Erdogan who was vacationing at the seaside resort, Marmaris. He managed to escape minutes before the plotters struck. A number of his bodyguards were killed. Erdogan boarded a small plane and flew to Istanbul as two rebel F-16 jets were hunting his black-out aircraft. The president  and his military loyalists rallied troops and the air force. It was all eerily similar to the 1991 coup attempt on the vacationing Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, by hardline Communists.

Turkey and its predecessor, the Ottoman Empire, have been vexed by military meddling and plots since the 1600’s, notably by the elite military corps, the Janissaries.

Today’s Janissary are the modern Turkish armed forces. They have long been joined at the hip with the Pentagon. Like Latin America’s generals, Turkey’s pashas (generals) were far to the right, hidebound, and reliant on US finance and arms. Turkey’s pashas were also virulently anti-Muslim. They regarded Islam as backwards and a threat to the secular oligarchy that long ruled Turkey under successive military juntas.

The coup leaders believed they would have popular support. Far from it, throngs of Turks poured into the streets supporting Erdogan’s AK party and calling the insurgents traitors. Five Turks were run over by tanks after they sought to stop the rebel armor with their bodies.

The government squarely blamed the prominent Sufi religious leader, Fethullah Gulen, who lives, of all places, in rural Pennsylvania. Gulen runs a vast and shadowy religious-business-education empire that has a very large following across Turkey that included leading newspapers, academia and many in the military.

Gulen was a close ally of Erdogan, but they fell out and became bitter enemies. Gulen was close to the US and often sided with Israel. His exile in the US was reportedly engineered by the CIA.

This has led many Turks to accused Washington of trying to overthrow Erdogan by using the military and Gulen – which the US denies.

Adding yet more mystery,  the Turkish commander of Incirlik  airbase in eastern Turkey was a key coup plotter.  Incirlik is used by the US Air Force for Mideast operations.

The F-16 pilot who downed a Russian SU-24 bomber last year, sparking a huge crisis with Moscow, has been arrested in the coup dragnet. Could the ambush of the Russian warplane have been part of a plot to embarrass and undermine Erdogan? Looks like it.

Furthermore, the coup reminded the world that the US keeps 50-60 B-61 thermonuclear bombs at Incirlik. These H-bombs could have fallen into the hands of the rebels. What purpose do these Cold War antiques serve today?

Back to the coup.  It was not just the work of the Gulenists, as Turkey’s government claims. There’s a whole other aspect to the coup: the  hard right, Europeanized secularists who regard 1930’s Islam-hating military dictator, Kemal Ataturk, as a demi-god and state religion. They joined the army generals in overthrowing Turkey’s past governments, keeping the nation unstable, chaotic and afflicted by financial crises.

Last weekend’s coup was a joint effort by the secular old guard and the Gulenists to reverse history. Unable to defeat the wildly popular Erdogan at the polls, they keep resorting to violence.

Two previous plots to overthrow Erdogan, known as Ergonikon and then Sledgehammer, nearly succeeded. Turkey’s judiciary, academia, media were riddled with Gulenists and rightist secularists. Generals involved in these plots were exonerated by courts. The government ended up in a 40-year ongoing civil war within its own ranks. That’s why nearly 60,000 anti-government officers and civilians are being purged. A third of all generals are being fired or retired.

The west’s response to the crisis was disgraceful.

Instead of immediately supporting Turkey’s besieged democratic government, Washington, London, Paris and Ottawa all issued only lukewarm, half-hearted support. President Erdogan is not liked, particularly by the US. He is a Muslim, too independent-minded, insufficiently response to American demands in spite of his support for the anti-ISIS war in Syria and Iraq. Perhaps worst of all, Erdogan is sometimes critical of Israel over its repression of the Palestinians.

As a result, leading US neocon papers, like the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and NY Times drip with venom over Erdogan.  CNN’s coverage of the coup was astoundingly biased and nasty, worthy of the old Pravda. The anti-Erdogan neocons began spreading the ludicrous canard that the coup was a false-flag operation staged by the Turkish leader himself. It was the real thing.  Even Turkey’s opposition parties sided with Erdogan’s AK.

Erdogan is hardly perfect. He is often too authoritarian and made a mess in Syria.  But his triumph in protecting Turkey’s hard-won democracy should be lauded and strongly supported by his NATO allies, starting with the US – which  was quick to support the brutal military coup in Egypt. Time for Washington to come clean on its murky links to Gulen.

LewRockwell.com, 23.07.2016

What Happened?

The days of July 15th and 16th have marked one of the most critical and significant landmarks in the history of Turkey. The nation was threatened with an extremely serious assault as a group from within the Armed Forces attempted a coup on last Friday evening. The first scenes the public witnessed were the blocked bridges overarching the Bosphorus by military tanks that were joined by F-16 fighter jets flying low over Istanbul and Ankara. Shortly after, a statement was read from the seized state TV channel TRT, announcing that the military took over the rule in the country and Yurtta Sulh Konseyi (Peace at Home Council) was in charge. A curfew was called until a second order. People were shocked, frozen, and in the dark; but only for a little while as thousands of them left their homes with a determination to fight back against the coup makers. Right around this moment, President Erdogan’s call for unity and resistance added courage and confidence to thousands withstanding against the armed perpetrators.

While the coup plotters rushed into satellite and telecommunication headquarters to cut down all communication, people were already on the streets, standing in front of tanks, calling out that this is an illegal attempt and that the military should go back to barracks. The plotters had apparently imagined that they will have at least some sort of support from the public, but this was not the case. They totally miscalculated.

The way public stood against the coup (not just the AK Party voters as portrayed by many foreign commentators) defending the civilian rule was a historic act of solidarity. The determination and unity of the political leadership, political parties, members of the parliament, civil society organizations, main stream and social media, security personnel, and top military officials struggling to stop the coup stood tall and strong. The people were attacked by F16s and helicopters firing and bombing directly on them but they did not leave the streets. The National Assembly was bombed many times but the parliamentarians stayed in. The police headquarters were targeted by bombs but none could create a retreat.

Today, the majority of the people stand self-confident and proud that they could protect their nation and freedom collectively. Gratitude also goes to those army officials who resisted the coup. Police force and special security units have gained an immense respect in the eyes of all for the struggle they put forth in stopping the coup makers. The solidarity of the political parties is yet another scene not to forget. Leaving their differences aside, all parties aligned against the coup attempt and political leaders lost no time to make announcements in this regard. The coup plotters most likely did not foresee this either and counted on some groups’ support, which did not come.

Majority of the mainstream media in Turkey deserved the applause of the public in general; first by putting all political positions aside and giving clear and accurate messages and news in their broadcasting. There was no hesitation on their part to also take a stance against the junta uprising as they continued to broadcast, giving voice to political leaders, state and civic personnel and also military officials not partaking in the coup. The healthy and uninterrupted flow of broadcasting was one of the major game stoppers of the coup attempt.

Were the reactions from the “West” strong enough?

In such extraordinary circumstances, the expectation from other governments was to hear unconditional support for the democratically elected government and condemnation of the coup, without any reservations! This was not the case. The first statements coming from the West fell short of showing that they read Turkey well enough. The initial reaction from the US made by Secretary Kerry was too short and too vague as it emphasized only stability and peace. Later, they stated respect for the elected government but this was after the coup plot was partly suspended. The first reactions always matter.

Unfortunately, the US was not alone. The European Union waited too long to extend respect for the elected bodies, however was quick to warn Erdogan not to use the failed coup attempt for an authoritarian crack down. Rather than embracing people of Turkey, the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Mogherini, was too impatient to state a warning that the EU would stop talks for accession if death penalty were re-introduced in Turkey’s penal code. This did not read well.

Germany’s Merkel was maybe the only one to say that her country respected the elected representatives, and stop there. Some other European leaders still keep their silence to this day. Let aside a strong support from the European leaders against the coup attempt, declarations were predominantly full of ifs and buts. They were perceived as undermining the solidarity and losses in the country, jumping too quickly to bleak future scenarios followed by warnings. Had they showed a stance with the nation of Turkey against the coup, it would have been more possible to work together to minimize a possible damage to democracy and freedoms in the aftermath.

If the coup plotters were successful, then would the West be talking to them as legitimate representatives of Turkey? Would the US call the coup process as “restoring democracy” as they did in Egypt? It is unfortunate that answers are up in the air. They should not be. Or are we expecting too much? These questions remain in the minds of the public.

What about the media and analysts?

A predominant part of American and European media outlets gave the initial signs of failing objectivity during the first twenty-four hours of the coup. Their accounts of events in the first few hours were full of vague and distant messages. There was a clear shortcoming in following and reporting the stream of events, President Erdoğan’s departure from his holiday location and the instant flooding of thousands of people to stand against the coup. Instead CNN International chose to portray Erdoğan as “Turkey’s beleaguered president” right at the moment when he was inviting everyone to the streets and announcing that he would soon meet them at the squares. Meanwhile, an MSNBC reporter published a tweet citing “a US military source tells NBC News that Erdogan, refused landing rights in İstanbul, is reported to be seeking asylum in Germany.” It was no surprise that this quote was retweeted by hundreds as breaking news, encouragingly joined with more than many academics and analysts who are regarded as experts on Turkey. However, soon after, this news was falsified as the President addressed the nation in front of cameras in İstanbul. This kind of reporting by MSNBC, a mainstream American news outlet, can fairly be regarded as an example of irresponsible reporting if not a psychological operation, displaying the leader of the country as on the run, which is known to have a tremendous discouraging affect on people to give up their stance during such times.

As more detailed accounts followed in the wake of next morning, majority of western analysis consolidated around one position; falling short of supporting the democratic legitimacy of the people but rather preferring to put emphases on stability. A prompt analysis published on Fox News Opinion page on the next day (July 16th) declared that “Turkey’s Last Hope Dies” is a good representation of disappointment on the part of at least some western actors that the coup did actually fail. Rather than giving a full account of what was happening on the streets, they chose to portray the events as a fight between Erdoğan supporters and opponents. In an article posted on Sunday July 17th, BBC chose to throw its headline as “Recep Tayyip Erdoğan: Turkey’s ruthless president” to one of the few articles on its website reporting the coup. All these examples floundered in informing the world that people in Turkey were giving out an ornamental resistance to an illegal, undemocratic attack on their freedom.

It was also possible to read phrases from regional experts or researchers like “if news of the coup in Turkey is true, it would have major positive impact on the region.” Some of such analysis usually started out by a few sentences with quotes like “we stand by democracy and rule of law” and cut short by explaining the pros and cons of the coup’s failure. Some put it as a dilemma between supporting a coup or an authoritarian leader. A common trait in all these news and analyses is an open undermining of the social movement that has been detrimental to the coup attempt, failure to portray a clear account of happenings avoid of political positioning and a subtle trait towards cornering Turkey and the Turkish government with negative future scenarios.

A top-notch example solidifying the disrespect towards the public of Turkey came from the New York Times in the following days calling the Erdogan supporters “sheep” which seems to have wrapped up the western bias and oriental stance in the eyes of the people in Turkey.

The objective, well-intended efforts of reporting and analyzing should of course be applauded and set apart, and fortunately there are at least a few examples of these. However, the rest have taken their place in records by their prejudice, double standards and insincerity. Hopefully, self-criticism will prevail, and the free and independent media in the west will show a more acceptable performance in the coming days.

What lies ahead?

The early warnings of Turkey’s western friends regarding rule of law, freedoms and human rights are not overlooked in the public sphere anyhow. There are countless hours of 5 discussions on televisions and dozens of articles in newspapers about justice, human rights and social unity that should follow.

Capital punishment is one of these major issues regarding human rights. It is true that there is a part of the society that believe and demand capital punishment for terrorist acts of last weekend. It can also be assumed that the President and the Parliament can be justified to position themselves to be hearing these demands. Nevertheless, so far no government official showed a strong willingness to reintroduce death penalty. However, in the case that capital punishment is re-introduced into the justice system in Turkey, it would have detrimental repercussions. Not only it would hurt Turkey politically, also hampering its chances of attaining solution in the Kurdish issue, it would also severely hurt the public psyche if hundreds of people were executed in this day. This would be a roll-back for Turkey’s democratic gains so far.

Another critical area is the vulnerability of Turkey during times like these for agitation to spark between different segments of the society. Turkey has seen many provocations resulting in deadly events that stem from the Alewite and Kurdish issues in the country. In order to prevent this, the political leadership should keep a unifying discourse, leaving harder statements behind, regarding all different ethnic and religious groups in Turkey. Furthermore, all democratization steps awaited from the government, now for a long time, should be taken without losing any time.

The government now has a huge responsibility to take the country out of this crisis. Reform is necessary in all sectors of the state; there is an urgent need of reform in justice and military institutions. The new constitution is now inescapable, more than ever.

People of Turkey have proved that they will not let their country to fall into chaos and will not tolerate freedom to be hampered by force. This is a new moral high ground which has united many groups in the society that have been at odds with each other for a long time. Turkey should not miss this opportunity for political consolidation and take the necessary steps for social peace.

If there is only one thing to underline boldly from this tragic experience, it should be the evolution of the social dynamic in Turkey that has proven to come to a point where it will no longer tolerate the extermination of its will and freedom by force. This is the most significant bottom line that the rest of the world should see and read carefully while commenting on Turkey.

PODEM (Public Policy and Democracy Studies Association), Ayşe Yırcalı and Sabiha Senyücel

What Happened?

A group within the Turkish army associated with Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) headed by Fetullah Gulen, currently residing in the U.S. State of Pennsylvania, attempted a coup in Turkey on July 15. The coup attempt, which claimed the lives of 240 people so far, failed thanks to the exemplary resistance of Turkish nation together with other state institutions.

What is FETO?

The Gulen cult, referred as FETO, is being directed by primary school graduate Fetullah Gulen who is believed to be a messiah by his lunatics. This cult emerged in 1970s as a movement providing education services. FETO promotes itself as a provider of education and its members, governed by a strong infrastructure, introduce themselves abroad as volunteers of education and peace. Yet, when we look at their organization, they conceal their real identities and settle into the critical state institutions like the army, judiciary, security and intelligence units and bureaucracy with a variety of identities (leftist, rightist, liberal, pious). This situation reveals the actual objective of the organization, which presents itself as the Hizmet Movement in the countries it operates.

What is Its Objective?

It infiltrates into strategic institutions by seemingly functioning as a school, education/culture centre, professional organization or NGO with the objective of seizing control of state institutions. Under their deviant religious ideology, they consider everything as legitimate to engage in all sorts of self-defensive deception, conspiracy, trap and illegal activities to achieve their ends. Their ends justify means. They want to redesign the world according to beliefs and thoughts of their so called “World Imam”. With years of confidential training and dissuasion activities, they have gained a high level of professionalism beyond the comprehension of ordinary people. Its members operate with a radical “devotion” and see themselves as “chosen ones”, they switch identities and commit all types of illegal acts including murder if it is needed.

What Has It Done So Far?

Particularly in the last 10 years, their judges, prosecutors and security officers serving a hidden objective have sentenced countless soldiers, police, bureaucrats, journalists, academicians and authors to penalize servitude with the objective of seizing control of all state authorities.

Considering himself strong enough to overtake the system, FETO made his first coup attempt in February 2012, justifying this attempt with National Intelligence Organization (MIT) Chief Hakan Fidan’s tasks aimed at resolving the Kurdish issue. The second coup attempt was made on 17-25 December 2013 when he attempted to put members of the government under arrest on the basis of fake corruption allegations. FETO presents itself as a pro-peace religious movement and abuses the concepts of tolerance and dialogue. Yet it actually engages in illegal activities by settling into security, judiciary and intelligence institutions of the state.

What Happened on 15th July?

On July 15^th, 2016, the FETO nesting within the army attempted a new coup with armed equipments such as fighter jets, tanks and helicopters. Tanks ploughed over the citizens on the streets protesting the coup. FETO bombed the Presidential Palace, National Assembly, police and public buildings.  The people in the streets protesting the coup in Ankara and Istanbul with fighter jets and also they attempted to assassinate President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The coup attempt failed due to the resistance of the citizens together with other state institutions. During the coup attempt 173 civilians, 62 policemen and 5 soldiers have lost their lives. During the attack of the coup plotters 1491 people were also injured.

Had the coup attempt been successful, thousands of innocent people would have lost their lives, democracy and freedom would have been abolished and a military dictatorship in line with the deviant religious views of Fetullah Gulen would have been established. This brutal coup attempt has been strongly opposed by all segments of society with different views from political parties, trade unions, civil society organizations to the media and the business world. At this point, the bloody coup has been repressed, government agencies have largely returned to their normal operations.

Is FETO a Threat to Turkey Only?

As seen in the recent coup attempt FETO who wishes to establish a military dictatorship based on a deviant religious ideology accepts no limits, principles or rules to achieve their ends. In the attempt of July 15^th, the attacks were directly aimed at killing unarmed innocent people. It organizes in strategic fields with which it should not be related in any way as an NGO/movement that voices concepts such as dialogue and peace. Based on many years of training and techniques they received, they are very well on hiding their identities and deceiving others and they deny everything they do. Due to their deviant religious understanding, hidden agenda and use of every means to achieve their goal. This organization is a threat to all governments and humanity in the countries they operate, not just for Turkey.

What Should Be Done?

The entire humankind should put up a joint fight against organizations like FETO, ISIS and Boko Haram, which interpret religion according to their own deviant belief. We will never forget the support given to the noble resistance of our nation by our citizens abroad, our kin, our relatives and all those international organizations and people who respect democracy, national will, human rights and freedoms.

We, hereby, condemn once again this inhumane bloody coup attempt, wish God to have mercy on our martyred civilians, policemen and soldiers, and wish the wounded a speedy recovery.

Republic of Turkey Prime Ministry Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities, 21.07.2016