It's not simple as that.Well, I'm a big fan of Mustafa Kemal and with respect to him, it hasn't to be bad news.
President Erdoğan asked everyone to gather outside, to oppose the coup.What is the situation like now, where you are, Garlic?
Honestly, if there's one thing we should learn from the whole mess that's the middle east, it's that militaries undermining democracy/elections in the name of secularism just doesn't work. And that comes from someone who hates nothing more than political Islam.If and this is a big IF the coup results in a secular military government instead of the current Islamic Republic that traded with ISIS for oil, murdered innocent Kurdish people with air attacks on Kurdish separatists and created a government that couldn't be called corrupt because corruption assumes some honest officials existed in the current government it might be for the best instead of a civil war.
Seems it worked in Egypt and in Turkey there is (according to CNN) even a constitutional obligation for the military to guaranty secularism!Honestly, if there's one thing we should learn from the whole mess that's the middle east, it's that militaries undermining democracy/elections in the name of secularism just doesn't work. And that comes from someone who hates nothing more than political Islam.
Not sure what's your definition of 'working'. If it includes one of the biggest civilian massacres in Egyptian modern history, more than 40,000 imprisoned, hundreds of forced disappearances, protests outlawed, and an entire youth generation that completely lost hope in their country and scared to object, then you're probably right.Seems it worked in Egypt
Sure it is so bad? I mean Nursi did some questionable imprisonments, too.Not sure what's your definition of 'working'. If it includes one of the biggest civilian massacres in Egyptian modern history, more than 40,000 imprisoned, hundreds of forced disappearances, protests outlawed, and an entire youth generation that completely lost hope in their country and scared to object, then you're probably right.
(emphasis mine)Reuters Mon May 23 2016 said:MASTER MANEUVERER
Erdogan has made clear he wants to seek legitimacy for the presidential system, which will require constitutional change, via a referendum. To do that, he will need the support of at least 330 members of the 550-strong parliament, and unwavering backing from the AKP grass roots on the campaign trail.
Outgoing Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was seen as too lackluster a supporter of Erdogan's ambitions. By replacing him, Erdogan aims to unify the AKP just as the nationalist opposition is embroiled in a damaging leadership row and the pro-Kurdish opposition faces the risk of its members being prosecuted after their parliamentary immunity was removed last week.
"Now the road to changing the constitution to include a presidential system is completely open," a second senior AKP official told Reuters.
Popular support for such constitutional change is unclear, with a recent IPSOS poll putting it at just 36 percent. The ORC research firm was meanwhile cited in the pro-government Daily Sabah newspaper as putting it at 58 percent.
Yes, I'm sure it is that bad.Sure it is so bad?
I lived under both Morsi and Sisi. Oppression in both cases isn't even comparable. We could and did protest every single thing that Morsi did. It was expected, almost mandatory for every channel and news outlets to criticise him. Heck, I sat through many hours of air time spent on making fun of his English accent and even physical appearance. This isn't because he was benevolent. He wasn't. But he was a joke of a ruler, and he didn't control anything. Had we had a second election it was very likely his party would have lost miserably, and it could've been the end of political Islam in the birthplace of the Muslim Brotherhood.I mean Nursi did some questionable imprisonments, too.
@agirecudi said:Erdogan says this attempt is a gift from God... Because it gives him opportunity to cleanse the Army. He says that live.
Erdogan appears as a defender of democracy.
His own words.Democracy is like a train. We shall get out when we arrive at the station we want.
So the coup is reported to have failed.The attempted Turkish military coup appeared to crumble in the early hours of Saturday after crowds answered President Tayyip Erdogan's call to take to the streets to support him.
Erdogan, who had been holidaying on the coast when the coup was launched, flew into Istanbul before dawn on Saturday and was shown on TV appearing among a crowd of supporters outside the airport, which the coup plotters had failed to secure.
The uprising was an "act of treason", and those responsible would pay a heavy price, he later told reporters at a hastily arranged news conference. Arrests of officers were under way, and it would go higher up the ranks, culminating in the cleansing of the military.