Way OT: Military coup in Turkey
There appears to be a military coup in progress in Turkey. This is super OT, but I know there are days when I get all of my news via the MGoBoard, so I thought I'd post it. The coup attempt is frontpage news everywhere, so I'll let you choose your own sources instead of linking anything.
It'll be very interesting to see what happens. As some of you may know, President Erdogan had been fairly effectively trying to expand his power beyond the scope allowed by the Turkish constitution, while more or less waging war on Turkey's Kurdish population. For another bit of background information, Turkish F-16s shot down a Russian warplane 8 months ago, causing an international incident that could have easily had major implications for the US. (Turkey is a member of NATO, so we have treaty obligations that would be hard to ignore if Erdogan were to start a war with Russia.)
Turkey is also a key ally in the fight against ISIS, so this is worth watching for that reason alone. A step back from the direction Erdogan had been tending, including the restoration of peace with Turkish Kurds and cooperation with Syrian Kurds who have often been the most effective opponents of ISIS, would appear to be a great boon to American strategic interests. But who knows what the consequences of a military coup might be.
Let us all hope Ace's beloved is somewhere safe in Istanbul right now.
I have family in Istanbul right now for business. Very scary, but have peace of mind now when I found out they were safely inside.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y60wDzZt8yg
Live stream from Sky.
Running live thread on reddit
https://www.reddit.com/live/x9gf3donjlkq
That's scary. I was in Istanbul in the spring, and my parents were there last month. I'm glad none of my people are there now, and I'm glad your family is safe.
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True, Turkey loves its coups. Already happened every time they voted Islamic radicals in govt in 1960, 71, 80, 93 and 97 since Ataturk.
Which should tell people whether Ataturk's efforts were pointless dreams of a scenario that could never happen in reality?
Seems like the people would rather live in the stone age with 0 rights and women being relegated to slaves rather than equals under Sharia. They keep voting in these morons decade after decade and finally one is smart enough to consolidate power away from the military, the vanguard of Turkey's secularism and Constitution.
At the end of the day, there won't be much of a difference between the Wahabis in Saudi Arabia and Turkey if Erdogan moves forward with his plans imo.
Let's be honest with ourselves, is it really on religious grounds that Erdogan and the Saudis have a rift? They both just want to be the de facto source of influence in the Middle East. (especially with their cozy relationships with ISIS)
These dudes make Iran seem pretty normal by comparison. lol.
The Alawites are a sect of Islam, but by all means keep talking.
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There didn't seem to be much support for the government when it started and the President himself was on vacation. I think it only took like a half hour.
As of now, it looks like it will be a lot messier than that...
Update: Facebook friends in Turkey are now reporting sporadic gunfire in the streets, pro-Erdogan civilian supporters shooting people in the streets, crowds of pro-Erdogan supporters marching on the airports to confront the military, the military bombing Erdogan's palace, and the military bombing the police headquarters. This is going to be very, very messy. Hopefully it will not be too drawn out.
not only then, but when he didn't get a majority, he started a fake war with the Kurdish PKK so that their moderate kurdish party (which received over 10% of the vote) would lose and he would regain a majority. Turkey is really not a democracy anymore despite its outward appearance...hence the coup
This is MgoBlog not Zerohedge
but the US is constantly meddling in world affairs to improve our position. If this is a good for the US, I'd bet my life we were at minimum aware of it and ok with it
If I might suggest a revision--not to be too insensitive to recent events--but one might suspect France before America on this one, if indeed foreign influence is the proximate cause of the coup.
...has very strong ties to the US and has pretty much no chance of long term survival without US support. It would not be the first time (in the last five years) that the US government has enabled the overthrow of a seated government.
Just saying.
Don't we do this constantly? Iraq, Iran, Guatemala, VIetnam, etc. Plus all the times we've supported horrible dictators in other nations because they were our pals. It's our MO to do whatever it takes to get what we want
Wouldn't be completely shocked, but I think you give our intelligence services too much credit.
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Thanks!
I found out we got Bin Laden on here, so no news is ever too far OT.
Me too!!! That was an eye opening thread
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i'm 31 and overweight, how do I get into the CIA?
who was once one of their psyche evaluators. Um, err nvm.
If so, I think you are good.
Learn Farsi. Learn Urdu. Be willing to work overseas. Be willing to never have your work acknowledged other than internally.
...be willing to not make that much money for your relative skill level.
It looks like it's starting to get violent now. The President is asking the people to fight back which guarantees that this is going to end in a bloody slaughter.
I have been wondering when this would happen...a secular milatary that is tasked with maintaining a secular government/democracy vs. an islamist and ever-evolving autocrate in Erdogan. Erdogan has been removing various institutions (i.e. the press, political rivals, the kurdish party) that oppose him and fomenting a pseudowar with the PKK. Go military!
Agree. Erdogan has been systematically dismantling the democratic elements of Turkey, in hopes of establishing an Islamic theocracy.
Go military indeed.
Replied to wrong post.
Agreed. This is one coup that I think is probably a good thing. I hope they succeed.
...it rarely works out that way. Once you realize you can overthrow a government, folks want to do it all the time.
Usually the most ruthless and violent fill that void.