Erdogan Cracks Down on Secular Officials After Failed Military Coup

Roughly 8,000 people, 6,000 of them members of the military and judiciary, have been detained in connection to a failed military coup in Turkey which took place in the evening hours of Friday July 15^th. The move came immediately after the failed seizure which appeared to be mismanaged and undersupplied; the coup resulted in the deaths of 232 people, 208 of them civilians.

While the coup was unexpected, it appeared to be anything but robust. On Friday night, a faction of the armed forces, allegedly headed by Air Force General Akin Ozturk, moved into Ankara, blocking roads and bridges. Helicopters and fighter jets targeted the Turkish parliament building and intelligence headquarters. Forces also occupied the airport and squares of Turkey’s largest city, Istanbul. The coup plotters apparently failed to cut off communications, despite seizing some media outlets, enabling President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on holiday on the Aegean Coast, to deliver a FaceTime address on national television. Using television, pro-Erdogan social media and broadcasts from mosque loudspeakers, Erdogan’s Islamist AK Party was able to move supporters into the public areas, where Turkish forces largely declined to disperse them. This led to curious scenes as largely unarmed mobs, assisted by police, attacked and detained heavily-armed Turkish troops.

While coup forces were still at large Erdogan flew into Istanbul airport early Saturday morning. Despite having a radar lock on his private plane, Turkish fighter pilots reportedly loyal to the coup plotters did not open fire, and Erdogan arrived in the country unharmed.

It is readily evident that the coup forces  represented only a minimal fraction of the Turkish military. This resulted in there being far too few troops to seriously challenge the government’s authority.

With the coup plot failed, the Erdogan government has responded with a massive crackdown on opposition officials. A small number of Turkish military officials were able to flee in a military helicopter to Greece, where they were detained.

In the two days that followed, nearly 8,000 journalists, judges, military officials and other figures have been detained, raising questions over whether or not the Erdogan regime already had a list of “enemies of the state” it intended to prosecute. Erdogan has blamed the attempted putsch on a  conspiracy headed by an exiled Islamist Fethullah Gulen, who lives in a rural compound in Pennsylvania. Gulen and Erdogan were formerly allies in the rise of Islamist politics in Turkey, but since suffered a falling out. Gulen was widely believed to have strong support within the police, judiciary and within several media outlets. Erdogan has targeted many of these supporters in recent years.

Some, including Gulen himself, have accused the Erdogan government of staging the coup  in order to facilitate a crackdown, and have raised questions over the coup plotters refusal to harm Erdogan, despite the opportunity. Similarly, they point to the small number of participants in the coup, pointing out that no experienced military leader would believe such a small force could adequately carry out the operation.

Erdogan’s supporters have also aggressively accused the United States of supporting the supposed Gulen Coup and demanded the U.S. turn Gulen over for punishment, even though U.S. officials publicly supported the “democratic government” of Turkey as events were unfolding.

Military coups have a long history in Turkey. The Turkish military has orchestrated four coups (in 1960, 1971, 1980, and 1997) since the formation of the Turkish Republic in 1923. The Turkish military has historically been recognized as the core institution of the Turkish Republic. Mustafa Kemal, also known as Ataturk, deliberately created a strong military in order to protect the values enshrined in the Turkish Constitution, namely secularist Turkish nationalism. So it is no surprise that that Turkey not only has the second largest army in NATO, its military wields considerable influence over Turkey’s internal affairs.

Historically, the Turkish government has deposed governments with whom it disagreed; more often than not, this was due to their moving away from Kemalist secularism.

But in recent years, Erdogan has repeatedly supplanted secular senior military officials in favor of more Islamist ones. The biggest blow to the Army’s authority came during the Ergenekon Trials, which convicted military and political leaders accused of aiming to overthrow the Erdogan Government. Critics of the regime  view the charges and the trials as an attempt by the Erdogan regime to depose opposing military and political officials. Nevertheless, the trials succeeded and the government was able to tame secularist officers (even those that were not convicted). Many officers left the service in fear of persecution and disillusionment with the state of the country.

Regardless of what actually happened on Friday night, it is clear that Erdogan’s defeat of the coup was a landmark victory. Not only has it provided him with the opportunity to depose of his enemies, it has been the final straw in establishing his superiority in the struggle against the secular military. In a country whose current government repeatedly violates Ataturk’s enshrined principle of secularism, it has become evident that not even the military can secure the supremacy of the constitution and protect the country from Erdogan’s Islamist ambitions.