Fez Posted July 15, 2016 Share Posted July 15, 2016 Not much reporting yet. Though the BBC has this note. And from looking at pictures on Twitter (I know, I know), it seems both bridges across the Bosphorous have been shut down and there's military forces all over Istanbul; including lots of reports of gunfire and military jets flying low. Kinda sounds like a coup is in progress, but it could be something else. Any borders in Istanbul? ETA: Yep, its a coup attempt. Unlike from the Prime Minister's statement if its been stopped or if its still ongoing and he's trying to make it sound like its failed. ETA2: Per Reuters' twitter feed, the military (unclear if its basically all of them are just a sub-faction) issued a statement claiming the coup has been successful and that they will respect and uphold all existing foreign relations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophelia Posted July 15, 2016 Share Posted July 15, 2016 Really worrying times. This must be terrifying for the people stuck in the middle of it. News from so many countries bad at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corvinus85 Posted July 15, 2016 Share Posted July 15, 2016 6 minutes ago, Leap said: Is the Turkish PM the one who's an absolute bastard? In any case, bad news. Hopefully it has indeed failed, with minimal bloodshed. The president is, Erdogan. But maybe the PM, too. And if the military is trying to take him down because of his continuing radical policies, I would not consider that a bad thing. But I agree about minimizing the bloodshed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophelia Posted July 15, 2016 Share Posted July 15, 2016 3 minutes ago, Leap said: Is the Turkish PM the one who's an absolute bastard? Yes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buckwheat Posted July 15, 2016 Share Posted July 15, 2016 The news here just said the coup has succeeded and the military has reported taking control. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fez Posted July 15, 2016 Author Share Posted July 15, 2016 Its the President who's the bad one, and he is conventionally not in the country today. I think he's in Mongolia actually, so even if he got on a flight now to somewhere in Turkey other than Istanbul, by the time he arrived it might be too late to rally any security forces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fragile Bird Posted July 15, 2016 Share Posted July 15, 2016 Turkey was very secular, and Erdogan has been moving the country away from secularism. The armed forces are supporters of a secular state. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Relic Posted July 15, 2016 Share Posted July 15, 2016 This is nuts. Turkey has American gifted nukes, is that correct? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free Northman Reborn Posted July 15, 2016 Share Posted July 15, 2016 If it means that the crazy bastard Erdogan is deposed, then I can only say it is a good outcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophelia Posted July 15, 2016 Share Posted July 15, 2016 1 minute ago, Fez said: Its the President who's the bad one, and he is conventionally not in the country today. I think he's in Mongolia actually, so even if he got on a flight now to somewhere in Turkey other than Istanbul, by the time he arrived it might be too late to rally any security forces. Thanks for the correction Fez - yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free Northman Reborn Posted July 15, 2016 Share Posted July 15, 2016 Putin must be having a drink in quiet satisfaction right now, if true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Chatywin et al. Posted July 15, 2016 Share Posted July 15, 2016 Crazy times. Hope there is minimal lose of life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corvinus85 Posted July 15, 2016 Share Posted July 15, 2016 Apparently Turkey has a history of military coups. The military tends to protect the secular democratic state. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted July 15, 2016 Share Posted July 15, 2016 2 minutes ago, Corvinus said: Apparently Turkey has a history of military coups. The military tends to protect the secular democratic state. Was going to point this out if no-one had. It's basically a tradition there that the military intervenes every so often and resets the government to a more democratic one. Iirc there was a plan discovered a few years ago that was cut off, so I'm not surprised it's eventually happened. It's such a weird thing, from a western perspective. A military coup to protect what we perceive as freedom from the perils of democracy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corvinus85 Posted July 15, 2016 Share Posted July 15, 2016 Just now, polishgenius said: Was going to point this out if no-one had. It's basically a tradition there that the military intervenes every so often and resets the government to a more democratic one. Iirc there was a plan discovered a few years ago that was cut off, so I'm not surprised it's eventually happened. It's such a weird thing, from a western perspective. A military coup to protect what we perceive as freedom from the perils of democracy. As Plato said "democracy is just a series of small steps towards despotism" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The guy from the Vale Posted July 15, 2016 Share Posted July 15, 2016 8 minutes ago, Free Northman Reborn said: Putin must be having a drink in quiet satisfaction right now, if true. Quite the opposite. The Turkish military top brass is pretty much pro-NATO while Erdogan managed to reconciliate with Putin just a few weeks ago. If anything, this is a potential disaster for Putin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamjm Posted July 15, 2016 Share Posted July 15, 2016 10 minutes ago, Relic said: This is nuts. Turkey has American gifted nukes, is that correct? I don't think they do. At some points in the Cold War the Americans did station nukes there but IIRC they agreed to pull them back after the Cuban Missile Crisis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophelia Posted July 15, 2016 Share Posted July 15, 2016 I've been following this twitter feed: https://twitter.com/EliotHiggins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoppy Hour Posted July 15, 2016 Share Posted July 15, 2016 Apparently Erdogan and his chief of military staff have been arrested, head of secret services appears to be missing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White Walker Texas Ranger Posted July 15, 2016 Share Posted July 15, 2016 I usually don't root for coups against democratically elected governments, but I think I'll make an exception here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.