After the coup, Turkey turns against America
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After the coup, Turkey turns against America
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Re: After the coup, Turkey turns against America
#2Hiii can you share this video please !! #blacklivesmatter https://www.facebook.com/jenny.tate2/posts/1136727999718260 ️️ please help me spread the word!!
Re: After the coup, Turkey turns against America
#3The Turkish government needs to do this because the population generally has quite anti-US sentiments, and they are already vulnerable as the coup showed. Continuing to publically stand with the US would be politically very dangerous for them.
Re: After the coup, Turkey turns against America
#4The Turkish government needs to do this because the population generally has quite anti-US sentiments, and they are already vulnerable as the coup showed. Continuing to publically stand with the US would be politically very dangerous for them.
I wonder what the other NATO members would think of their anti-US stance.
Re: After the coup, Turkey turns against America
#5I just finished reading last Chomsky book and that kind of post tastes so differently now.
For example, that sentence is really strange:
From the American perspective, Turkey has never been fully committed to the war against Islamist groups in Syria.
Re: After the coup, Turkey turns against America
#6Although from an outside perspective a military coup seems completely undemocratic the Turkish military has historically had the role of maintaining the principles Atatürk founded the Turkish Republic on. You can think of them as a built-in correction mechanism in case the government veers too far off course -- they remove the government, reset everything to start and then hand over control back to the people once the situation is stable again.
I strongly suggest reading the Wikipedia article on Kemalism (the principles of Atatürk for the Turkish Republic): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kemalism
Erdogan dreams of bringing Turkey back to its Ottoman glory and is willing to exploit religion (and abolish Laicism) to do so. I don't think he staged the failed coup himself but it is clear that he's benefited the most from it:
He told the Turkish people to go out and stop the coup, risking their lives and knowing full well that the soldiers wouldn't massacre the civilians but creating an opportunity to make his supporters seem like a peaceful opposition to the "violent" military.
He spread the narrative that the coup was staged not to defend Atatürk's principles but by a religious sect his ruling party fell out with. He used that narrative and the failed coup to get rid of thousands of educators, judges, officials and military officers (calling it a "purge" even).
He's basically doing what he did before: eliminating all opposition to ensure his rise to permanent and unlimited power. Except because of the clever PR move of risking his citizens' lives he now has public support for his autocratic ambitions.
Atatürk created a nation that should have been an inspiration to the entire Islamic world with a degree of secularism far outmatching that of many Christian nations. Instead Erdogan is heading full speed back into the dark ages of theocratic dictatorships. This is a political tragedy of disturbing proportions and a huge loss for Europe and the Middle East.
Re: After the coup, Turkey turns against America
#7For the most part, America had nothing to do with the coup attempt and had no idea that it was about to happen. Honestly, the majority of Americans couldn't find Turkey on a map even if you centered the map on Turkey. However, I certainly wouldn't be surprised if a few CIA types provided assistance like they've been known (or suspected) to do in South America and other parts of the world. The US government clearly benefits from Turkey having a more secular government and Erdogan is moving the government towards more Islamic rule.
So I'm just guessing that in a few weeks a classified document will be leaked that some portion of the US government was involved in the coup attempt and American citizens will all be embarrassed that we can't let other sovereign nations deal with their own business.
I hope that it doesn't hurt our relations so much that it hurts any innocent civilians or that we restrict travel. I hear Turkey has some cool castles and is a very interesting place to visit. It's relatively inexpensive and I'd like to go there one day.
Re: After the coup, Turkey turns against America
#8The Turkish government needs to do this because the population generally has quite anti-US sentiments, and they are already vulnerable as the coup showed. Continuing to publically stand with the US would be politically very dangerous for them.
There publicly holding hands, and then there is accusing the US of plotting a coup. Between these two extremes is a vast middle ground they could occupy.
If anything the government are fanning the flames, not the other way around.
Shoot down a Russian plane and then months later accuse the USA of a plot while arresting thousands of judges ... I worry that this is all the start of something really, really terrible.
Re: After the coup, Turkey turns against America
#9I just finished reading last Chomsky book and that kind of post tastes so differently now. For example, that sentence is really strange: From the American perspective, Turkey has never been fully committed to the war against Islamist groups in Syria.
That is a strange statement. From my perspective, America hasn't been either (if anything, the opposite)!
Re: After the coup, Turkey turns against America
#10The Turkish government needs to do this because the population generally has quite anti-US sentiments, and they are already vulnerable as the coup showed. Continuing to publically stand with the US would be politically very dangerous for them.
It's posturing. The US is an easy target because there's no chance in hell the US and Turkey will go to war and Turkey is irrelevant enough to the US (and important enough as an ally to NATO and Europe) that Erdogan can be sure there will be no consequences. Meanwhile the US's apathy can be exploited for publicity by Erdogan and he can put Europe in a tough spot.
The coup wasn't a big threat. Only a fraction of the military was mobilised, all important government officials were able to flee and he was able to turn the entire population against the military because both mosques and TV channels spread his propaganda.
The military couldn't have followed through without creating a bloodbath that would have turned the populace even more against them. The coup had already failed the second Erdogan was able to escape.