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Turkish military attempting a coup


bashfulpixie

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Sounds like the military is attempting to take over the country.  Military aircraft are flying low over the capital and there's reports of gunfire there as well.  The bridges in Istanbul are blocked from traffic. 

Seems like this is in the early stages from the alerts I'm getting on my phone.

 

Turkey’s Premier Reports ‘Attempted Coup’ After Military Activity In Cities - Huffington Post

Turkey Coup Attempt - the Guardian (Live updates)

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BBC reporting that tanks surrounding airport in Istanbul. Military reporting action being taken to maintain democratic order.

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And now it's sounding like hostages have been taken in the capital, the chief of military staff among them.

What the fuck is going on with this world??

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Shortly after the coup started, they restricted access to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.  They've made it anywhere from difficult to next to impossible to access social media at this point.

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The Guardian is reporting that Erdogan was on vacation and is not in Turkey.

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Erdogan is in Mongolia at an Asian-European top, together with other European and Asian leaders. He has called upon his followers to gather in the streets in protest...Like that's a good idea with the military curfew in place. I sincerly hope this doesn't lead to bloodshed!

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What the fuck is going on with this world??

We're headed towards another big scale war. I hope I'm wrong.
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All flights have been cancelled in Turkey, along with martial law a curfew has been implemented. Taken from the BBC website.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36809083

The world seems to have gone mad the last wee while. @RosyDaisy, I hope your wrong as well but I think this is what certain groups are trying to push the rest of the world towards, a big bloody war which in the end will have no winners, only countless innocents dead and it will be for nothing. The events of the last year with terrorist attack after terrorist attack make me scared for my children's future :pb_cry: 

Edit. I'm watching BBC News 24,  Reuters have reported that a fighter jet has shot down a military helicopter with people from the coup in it. Gunfire has been heard from the Bosphorus Bridge in Instanbul and explosions and gunfire have been heard in Ankara. Lot's of people have taken to the streets in protest. I hope they all stay safe.

 

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I was watching CBS coverage live on MSN.  There have been injuries from people who have thrown bottles at tanks and the implication seemed to be that some may have been hit by the tanks.  Images were described as "gruesome" but none were shown.

The anchor said that the those supporting the military were interested in a more westernized government but the people on the street were happy with the current democratic rule.  I don't know enough about the situation to pick a side.  I hope things resolve quickly and there as little violence as possible.

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Watching live feeds through Rueters. Very tense and worrisome. It appears there have been shots fired on groups of people and there are casualties. Soldiers have tourist blocked in hotels and there are conflicts between police and military. Reporting deaths of police and aircraft shot down. You don't know who is fighting who when looking at the feeds.

President Erdogan has urged the people to get in the streets and defy the curfew and martial law. There are a lot of people out in the streets. 

This timing is worrisome due to the boarder issues and ISIS, but this is a long time coming. Tension has been going on for awhile. The military is suppose to make sure Islamic influence stays out of government, and I believe that is stated in their constitution. The miltary is staging a coup because they believe Erdogan is going down the dictatorship path and allowing Islamic influence to come Into the government. There have been recent take overs of newspapers and such. Military firing on their own people is just crazy. 

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I've been chatting to a friend who has a it more political knowledge than I do, and his take on it is that  there have been some concerns that Erdogan is becoming more of dictator. He believes the military are possibly stepping in to keep the county democratic. Whether or not that is the case remains to be seen. It's very worrying tho and I hope to whatever greater power there maybe that this doesn't end in a blood bath of innocent lives. 

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    Thank you @Mecca I got the impression the military was fighting for more democracy too.

      We have Turkish friends who think everything about Turkey is better than here. They are middle class Americans who own a local business. Their view of Turkey and what I read are two different things.

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I hope members and families from Turkey stay safe.

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Watching CNN. Nutshell problems: The old regime of Tirkey was a more secular government and current president more religious. The military are old regime.

People are protesting. I notice all protestors are men. Not sure if it is significant or not.

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From what I heard through the bbc it appears that a lot of the top army commanders aren't supporting the coup and are ordering those involved back to their barracks so it should be interesting to see what the chain of command is like.

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4 minutes ago, FrumperedCat said:

From what I heard through the bbc it appears that a lot of the top army commanders aren't supporting the coup and are ordering those involved back to their barracks so it should be interesting to see what the chain of command is like.

     I am hearing the current president removed many of the military leaders and replaced them with his own men.

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2 minutes ago, Grimalkin said:

    

     I am hearing the current president removed many of the military leaders and replaced them with his own men.

Yeah that's the impression I'm getting. From what I can work out, the military are responsible for making sure religion doesn't come into politics. There has been major concerns over the presidents actions, including bringing his own men in, and trying to get the militaries powers reduced. 

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4 hours ago, bashfulpixie said:

Shortly after the coup started, they restricted access to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.  They've made it anywhere from difficult to next to impossible to access social media at this point.

Shit! I'm at a loss for words... 

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2 hours ago, FrumperedCat said:

From what I heard through the bbc it appears that a lot of the top army commanders aren't supporting the coup and are ordering those involved back to their barracks so it should be interesting to see what the chain of command is like.

   Interested in the reporting a from other countries. Thanks. 

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4 hours ago, Gemini said:

I've been chatting to a friend who has a it more political knowledge than I do, and his take on it is that  there have been some concerns that Erdogan is becoming more of dictator. He believes the military are possibly stepping in to keep the county democratic. 

Imho Erdogan is a fool and  I don't like his policies at all and I don't think a Turkey governed by him is ready to be part of the EU, BUT he was democratically elected winning with a wide majority of consent for four legislatures, turks want him and his government. A coup to save democracy that is aimed to remove the democratically elected government? Are you joking? 

3 hours ago, Gemini said:

From what I can work out, the military are responsible for making sure religion doesn't come into politics. There has been major concerns over the presidents actions, including bringing his own men in, and trying to get the militaries powers reduced.

 

4 hours ago, Grimalkin said:

Thank you @Mecca I got the impression the military was fighting for more democracy too.

In a democracy there are three separated, balanced and independent powers: legislative, judiciary and executive.  The military is directly subordinate to the executive and to the other two. In no way military can be a grant of democracy. If they think that Erdogan is becoming more dictatorial a coup is nowhere near the democratic way to deal with it.

4 hours ago, Mecca said:

Islamic influence stays out of government, and I believe that is stated in their constitution.

No. In the links below it's explained the political structure of Turkey. Military is fully submitted to executive power namely Erdogan and there's nothing strange if the executive power decides to change the heads of the military. 

www.invest.gov.tr/en-US/turkey/factsandfigures/Pages/LegalAndPoliticalStructure.aspxp

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_Turkey

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I'm not surprised this is happening at all. Even in 2007/2008 Erdogan was deeply unpopular and people spoke of a coup being likely if things continued the way they were. 

Since then he has become exponentially worse,  in my opinion. He has suppressed peaceful protests, freedom of the press, and freedom in universities. His government has blocked access to social media several times when things were especially tense. He has signed a bill into law that allows the country to block access to sites without any prior notice.There are also lots of suspicions of electoral fraud in the last elections, and he has blocked media access to his competitors.

One thing that's really different about Turkey versus the U.S.: Ataturk, the founder of Turkey and the person responsible for changing it into a secular, westward looking state from the Ottoman Empire, was a military general. The Turkish military is considered the protector of Ataturk's dream and is the driving force ensuring secularism in the country. The Turkish founding fathers weren't some intellectuals hashing things out in a room but were army leaders who created the state, and saved Turkey from becoming another colonial power, via military maneuvers. 

There were two military coups before, in 1960 and 1980. From what I've heard things weren't really fun, but things weren't terrible either. The biggest issue is that they tend to make the economy tank. The way people talk about them was as if they expect them from time to time. The president strays too much from Ataturk's principles of governance, and the military brings things back to the center. 

(Granted, the people characterizing the coups this way were more liberal westerners who probably agreed with most of the military's goals and weren't in their cross hairs as a result.)

I'm uncomfortable with a military taking control of a country and realize things could become pretty ugly, but honestly if a U.S. president acted the way Erdogan has and flouted the Constitution, I think some sort of removal would be warranted. 

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