Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan allegedly fakes coup a la “Nazi Reichstag fire” to purge opponents to his Islamist-light regime
LIVE Stream: Military Coup In Turkey Is Underway (7-15-16)
The President of Turkey, would-be Islamist caliph Recep Tayyip Erdogan, allegedly staged his own coup on Friday according to internet conspiracy theorists and political opponents within Turkey. Known for his banana republic mannerisms and intolerance of opposition, the idea that such a character would stage his own uprising in order to consolidate power in one of the nominally powerful countries in the Middle East isn’t that far fetched. This would just be the latest in a series of interesting international relations disasters for Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the largest among them being the accidental shooting down of a Russian fighter jet earlier this year.
First ‘social media coup’ in Turkey – BBC News
President Putin’s full response has not yet arrived in Turkey, likely because of its alliance with the United States and the European Union, but hopefully the dictator in Ankara will further distance himself from his allies and discover how wanting his military is when he encounters Putin unshielded.
Calling the attempt on his regime a “gift from Allah,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has already dismissed 2,475 judges from their position according to The Independent. Additionally, Recep Tayyip Erdogan is certain the coup’s leader resides in Pennsylvania, USA, and is Fethullah Gulen. All of this within hours of the coup’s start.
From Politico:
Ryan Heath, the senior EU correspondent at Politico, used Twitter to share comments from his “Turkish source”, who called the events of Friday night a “fake coup” which would help a “fake democracy warrior” [Erdogan].
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“Probably we’ll see an early election [in] which he’ll try to guarantee an unbelievable majority of the votes. And this will probably guarantee another 10-15 years of authoritarian, elected dictatorship.”
Users on Twitter on using the hashtag #TheatreNotCoup to express their opinions about Erdogan’s charade.
President Erdogan has diluted Turkey’s democratic institutions during his administration and has placed further distance between himself and Turkey’s EU allies through these reforms and with statements such as “the EU needs Turkey more than Turkey needs the EU.”
Bolton: If coup in Turkey fails, expect brutal crackdown
If President Erdogan is discussing stemming the flow of refugees out of Syria into the European Union, there is some evidence that is true; however, Turkey is not a major economic power and is only a nominal military power at best, untested in any real conflict with another major modern military force. Its contribution to the European Union in these areas would be questionable at best.
Perhaps this lack of economic or real military might is why Erdogan seeks to project Turkey’s power over the war-torn and decimated Middle East but even there he is likely to face stronger, more powerful nations such as Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and even Egypt. Hopefully the true nature of the events in Turkey will be revealed and the international community can respond.
If it is believed with reasonable evidence that Turkey’s President Erdogan is undermining democracy within Turkey to consolidate dictatorial power then the European Union and the United States must craft a joint response to limit the influence of this dictator within their ranks.