Yes, there was some sort of coup in Turkey, but the breathtaking actions of the President since then are clearly those of a dictator. A piece in Salon "Turkey’s ruthless, slow-motion coup: 110,000 purged as Western ally cracks down on dissent, journalism" spells things out more than clearly. And this is an ally of the West!
"Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has taken advantage of the failed coup attempt in July to carry out a coup of his own.
In the past three months, more than 110,000 people have been purged and nearly 40,000 have been imprisoned in Turkey, a NATO member and close Western ally. The increasingly authoritarian President Erdogan is implementing a slow-motion coup, restructuring the government and civil society through a mass purge of the political opposition.
People from all sectors of society have been targeted — those working in the government, military, courts, media and academia. Over the weekend, more than 10,000 civil servants were fired en masse. Among the purged were health workers and at least 1,200 academics. New government decrees granted Erdogan the power to appoint university officials, while simultaneously stripping lawyer-client confidentiality rights from those detained.
Opposition figures like Sezgin Tanrikulu, a member of parliament from the left-leaning, secular Republican People’s Party, are alarmed. “What the government and Erdogan are doing right now is a direct coup against the rule of law and democracy,” Tanrikulu warned on a Periscope broadcast.
Independent, critical journalism is on the verge of extinction. Outlets that oppose Erdogan’s right-wing, Islamist and neoliberal Justice and Development Party, known by the acronym AKP, have faced raids and arrests.
More than 160 media outlets have been shut down since the failed coup. On Saturday alone, the Turkish government closed 15 newspapers, news agencies and magazines that report from the largely Kurdish southeast, Reuters reported.
Some of Turkey’s largest newspapers have even come under attack. On Monday, Turkish police detained Murat Sabuncu, the editor-in-chief of Cumhuriyet, a prominent daily newspaper with a left-leaning, secular editorial stance. Throughout the rest of the day, authorities rounded up 11 more journalists and executives at the publication. Arrest warrants were issued for at least three more people linked to the newspaper."
"Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has taken advantage of the failed coup attempt in July to carry out a coup of his own.
In the past three months, more than 110,000 people have been purged and nearly 40,000 have been imprisoned in Turkey, a NATO member and close Western ally. The increasingly authoritarian President Erdogan is implementing a slow-motion coup, restructuring the government and civil society through a mass purge of the political opposition.
People from all sectors of society have been targeted — those working in the government, military, courts, media and academia. Over the weekend, more than 10,000 civil servants were fired en masse. Among the purged were health workers and at least 1,200 academics. New government decrees granted Erdogan the power to appoint university officials, while simultaneously stripping lawyer-client confidentiality rights from those detained.
Opposition figures like Sezgin Tanrikulu, a member of parliament from the left-leaning, secular Republican People’s Party, are alarmed. “What the government and Erdogan are doing right now is a direct coup against the rule of law and democracy,” Tanrikulu warned on a Periscope broadcast.
Independent, critical journalism is on the verge of extinction. Outlets that oppose Erdogan’s right-wing, Islamist and neoliberal Justice and Development Party, known by the acronym AKP, have faced raids and arrests.
More than 160 media outlets have been shut down since the failed coup. On Saturday alone, the Turkish government closed 15 newspapers, news agencies and magazines that report from the largely Kurdish southeast, Reuters reported.
Some of Turkey’s largest newspapers have even come under attack. On Monday, Turkish police detained Murat Sabuncu, the editor-in-chief of Cumhuriyet, a prominent daily newspaper with a left-leaning, secular editorial stance. Throughout the rest of the day, authorities rounded up 11 more journalists and executives at the publication. Arrest warrants were issued for at least three more people linked to the newspaper."
Comments