Turkey: Coupe attempt against Ak Party government fails
On July 15th Turkey witnessed a coup attempt organized by a small group from the Turkish military. A group of Turkish military officers announced on TRT (Turkey’s State Radio Television) late Thursday they were taking over the country in order to restore democracy. At that point it was not clear who led the coup or how much support it had within Turkey’s armed forces.
Some serious clashes between said group and the police which led to hundreds of casualties (including some deaths) were recorded.
The coupe however failed eventually, due to very poor planning – as referred to over the social media and expressed by many experts – and the lack of support from the rest of the army. Moreover, the call by Erdoğan asking citizens to take to the streets to protect democracy (and protect the current administration, obviously) also substantially contributed to said failure.
The death toll was reported to stand at 161 and 1,440 people were announced to have been wounded in the events overnight. It is understood that nearly 3,000 people have been arrested.
President Erdogan, who was on vacation, returned to Istanbul a few hours after the coup began. He said its organizers would face the “highest price” and urged his supporters to take to the streets. His allies, including the U.S. and NATO, urged the restoration of democracy.
Following undesired events, Turkey’s prime minister thanked the leaders of three oppositional parties for their backing to the democracy and standing with the government in the face of a group of soldiers that attempted to stage a coup. He said:
“I thank the leader of the opposition parties. They have protected the democracy. They have stood with our government by showing a clear stance against the coup attempt. Earlier, all opposition parties represented at the Parliament had issued statements in support to the government by rejecting the plot.”
PM YILDIRIM also thanked the people who had taken streets to support the government against plotters, calling them not to return their homes and continue to back the democratically-elected government. “Let’s not leave the streets to the plotters,” he added.
Editor
