On-Going Military Coup in Turkey

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

At height of Turkish coup bid, rebel jets had Erdogan's plane in their sights

So close, lol.

Killing Erdogan to create another Menderes. Coup leaders wouldn't be dumb to kill him.

There's a lot of interesting similarities between the 1960 coup and the recent attempt. The former was conducted by just a fraction of the army (led entirely by officers below the rank of general), and it appears the latter was a faction of the army as well (with a couple of generals in at most).

The outcome was of course diffrent. Senior generals accepted the coup post factum, only demanding one of them will be picked as country's new leader (Cemal Gürsel). This time it didn't work, but killing Edrogan was, as far as the coup leaders were concerned, the best outcome. Sure, he'll be a martyr for some but less dangerous than alive. After all, those who executed Menderes never suffered consequences.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

At height of Turkish coup bid, rebel jets had Erdogan's plane in their sights

So close, lol.

Killing Erdogan to create another Menderes. Coup leaders wouldn't be dumb to kill him.

On the contrary, it is usually preferable to assassinate the leader if it is impossible to arrest them.

For example the 20 July Plot failed because the plotters failed to assassinate Hitler, and the coup subsequently failed because of this.

It's also interesting how close it was for the July 20 plotters to accomplish their goal. If Stauffenberg used two bombs instead of one or if the meeting hadn't been moved to a wooden barrack instead of a concrete bunker, Hitler would've died.

History is full of such small coincidences with huge consequences.

Anyway, as of Erdogan, had he been successfull in escaping Turkey if the coup succeeded, he'd still be more of a threat than dead.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

At height of Turkish coup bid, rebel jets had Erdogan's plane in their sights

So close, lol.

Killing Erdogan to create another Menderes. Coup leaders wouldn't be dumb to kill him.

On the contrary, it is usually preferable to assassinate the leader if it is impossible to arrest them.

For example the 20 July Plot failed because the plotters failed to assassinate Hitler, and the coup subsequently failed because of this.

It's also interesting how close it was for the July 20 plotters to accomplish their goal. If Stauffenberg used two bombs instead of one or if the meeting hadn't been moved to a wooden barrack instead of a concrete bunker, Hitler would've died.

History is full of such small coincidences with huge consequences.

Anyway, as of Erdogan, had he been successfull in escaping Turkey if the coup succeeded, he'd still be more of a threat than dead.

True.

What's also interesting is that the plotters of the July 20 Coup attempting to hoodwink the German Reserve Army into believing a coup was taking place and that Hitler was dead, in order to actually attempt the coup.

In Turkey, much of the army believed it was a "training exercise" and only realized it was a coup when they came under attack, which explained their unpreparedness and why many willingly surrendered.

Yes, that's a paradox. You can't conduct a successfull coup if too many people knows real objectives, but that brings a risk of your troops unpreparedness if things deviates from the plan.

I guess the moral is: coups are a risky business.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Shyte. Once the military started moving, there was no good ending to this. If they won, they would have been a nasty, ugly, bloody dictatorship. Since they lost, Erdogan will be able to destroy what is left of Turkey´s democracy. This is a real tragedy.

I don't see any reason to believe the military would have instituted a bloody dictatorship.  Their previous coups always restored democracy after a period of time.

Have you checked how many people they killed and tortured in the process?

As Kenan Evren (the previous coup leader) said himself about an executed 17-years old: "Should we feed him rather than hang him?"

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And sincerely, the concept of "greater good" is gross and disturbing.

It is beyond disturbing. It is criminal.

It's impossible to count millions that were killed because their killers believed they're doing it for greater good.

I understand if one argues that the coup would be better for Turkey than Erdogan (and, surely, Erdogan now is going to cause a lot of damage and I think it will be worse than a successfull coup), but let's not talk about "greater good" here. In most cases it's an open door for terrible things to happen.

Btw, there was no immediate need for coups in both 1960 and 1980.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

At height of Turkish coup bid, rebel jets had Erdogan's plane in their sights

So close, lol.

Killing Erdogan to create another Menderes. Coup leaders wouldn't be dumb to kill him.

Guardian article says the pilot tricked then by saying they were a commercial flight. Which reminds me of Morocco... 1972, I think, where the coup plotters were actually strafing Hassan II's 727 when he took the radio himself and told them to stop, saying he had already been killed. They bought it and the coup obviously failed.

This is the best thing I've read in weeks.

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There's no point in antogonizing Turkey any further with these threats, as much as I hate to say it.  Erdogan has won, and we're probably stuck with him until he dies.  We need Turkey in NATO, they're too important right now.

A dictatorship has no place in NATO or in the EU.

Of course if they were consistent about that they should also kick out Hungary and threaten to kick out Poland, but something is better than nothing.

maybe because hungary and poland aren't dictatorships

No, thanks God. But we're sometimes approaching the line in certain areas