July 15 will always be remembered as one of the most important days in the history of Turkey. Reports of an attempted coup in Turkey took the entire world by surprise. Keeping in view the history of military coups in the country, people all over the world monitored the developments with bated breath.
However, Turkish authorities crushed the military coup and wrested back control of the country. In the words of Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildrim it will be remembered as “a festival for democracy,” the day when those who carried out a coup against the people were hit by a coup themselves.
In the past the army has intervened in 1960, 1980 and 1997. At a time when the western ally and the bridge between the European Union (EU) and the Middle East is rickety at best, this development must deeply worry the West and the NATO alliance. Between acts of terrorism, the influx of 2.7 million Syrian refugees and the massive loss of revenue from a tattered once multi-billion dollar tourism industry, Turkey has been left at the mercy of ill winds.
The paramount question that will be asked today is if the famous Gulen movement (founded by Fethullah Gulen who now lives in exile in Pennsylvania) and works on the principle of Hizmet (“Service”) by its followers and as Cemaat (“the Community/Assembly”) could have been involved in this latest attempt.
What began as an academic and socio-religious movement based on active but quiet pacifism, if you accept the inherent paradox, gradually became a powerful shadow government permeating every level of Turkish society including the police and the security apparatus.
Gulen, it is said, has influence in high places around the world like a massive and silent river with tributaries that access the global corridors of power in over 180 nations. The Gulen Movement started in 1982. The movement has attracted supporters and critics in Turkey, Central Asia, and in other parts of the world. The movement is active in education with private schools and universities in over 180 countries as well as many American charter schools operated by followers.
It functions through medicine, charity, business, education, professional cadres and media and has been called Turkey’s parallel state.
Erdogan’s willingness to make Gulen a political ally in the years after 2002 led to huge chunks of extra-constitutional authority being exercised by Gulen followers. Loyalists were inducted into posts of authority. In 2014 that ball of wool began to unravel. Erdogan not only flung it out of bed but also threw it under the bus admitting that he had “naively” surrendered far too much authority to the Gulen sect and practically called for a purge.
Perhaps he wasn’t wrong. Somewhere in the next couple of days it will be clear how deep the Gulen penetration was into the army. Was it just a battalion or a brigade gone renegade with a bunch of mid-level officers or there is more to it?
There is another thorn in his side and that is his war with Kurdish rebels and the open house on the PKK. However, one thing is for sure that the Turkish people support the democratic process and shun the military as can be seen by the prompt arrival courtesy social media of thousands of Turks onto the streets to protest the coup attempt.
Friday’s putsch bid began with rebel F-16 jets screaming low over rooftops in Ankara, soldiers and tanks taking to the streets and multiple explosions throughout the night in the capital as well as the biggest city Istanbul.
Parts of parliament were turned to rubble after being hit by airstrikes from rebel jets. Rebel troops also moved to block the two bridges across the Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul, culminating in a standoff with an angry crowd.
Turks have not seen such scenes since 1980 when the military led by Gen. Kenan Evren ousted the government and many had no desire to revive these memories.
An unstable Turkey is equivalent to an unstable equation between the West and the Middle East with extremism finding for itself another fertile land in which to establish a presence.
However, Turkish authorities crushed the military coup and wrested back control of the country. In the words of Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildrim it will be remembered as “a festival for democracy,” the day when those who carried out a coup against the people were hit by a coup themselves.
In the past the army has intervened in 1960, 1980 and 1997. At a time when the western ally and the bridge between the European Union (EU) and the Middle East is rickety at best, this development must deeply worry the West and the NATO alliance. Between acts of terrorism, the influx of 2.7 million Syrian refugees and the massive loss of revenue from a tattered once multi-billion dollar tourism industry, Turkey has been left at the mercy of ill winds.
The paramount question that will be asked today is if the famous Gulen movement (founded by Fethullah Gulen who now lives in exile in Pennsylvania) and works on the principle of Hizmet (“Service”) by its followers and as Cemaat (“the Community/Assembly”) could have been involved in this latest attempt.
What began as an academic and socio-religious movement based on active but quiet pacifism, if you accept the inherent paradox, gradually became a powerful shadow government permeating every level of Turkish society including the police and the security apparatus.
Gulen, it is said, has influence in high places around the world like a massive and silent river with tributaries that access the global corridors of power in over 180 nations. The Gulen Movement started in 1982. The movement has attracted supporters and critics in Turkey, Central Asia, and in other parts of the world. The movement is active in education with private schools and universities in over 180 countries as well as many American charter schools operated by followers.
It functions through medicine, charity, business, education, professional cadres and media and has been called Turkey’s parallel state.
Erdogan’s willingness to make Gulen a political ally in the years after 2002 led to huge chunks of extra-constitutional authority being exercised by Gulen followers. Loyalists were inducted into posts of authority. In 2014 that ball of wool began to unravel. Erdogan not only flung it out of bed but also threw it under the bus admitting that he had “naively” surrendered far too much authority to the Gulen sect and practically called for a purge.
Perhaps he wasn’t wrong. Somewhere in the next couple of days it will be clear how deep the Gulen penetration was into the army. Was it just a battalion or a brigade gone renegade with a bunch of mid-level officers or there is more to it?
There is another thorn in his side and that is his war with Kurdish rebels and the open house on the PKK. However, one thing is for sure that the Turkish people support the democratic process and shun the military as can be seen by the prompt arrival courtesy social media of thousands of Turks onto the streets to protest the coup attempt.
Friday’s putsch bid began with rebel F-16 jets screaming low over rooftops in Ankara, soldiers and tanks taking to the streets and multiple explosions throughout the night in the capital as well as the biggest city Istanbul.
Parts of parliament were turned to rubble after being hit by airstrikes from rebel jets. Rebel troops also moved to block the two bridges across the Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul, culminating in a standoff with an angry crowd.
Turks have not seen such scenes since 1980 when the military led by Gen. Kenan Evren ousted the government and many had no desire to revive these memories.
An unstable Turkey is equivalent to an unstable equation between the West and the Middle East with extremism finding for itself another fertile land in which to establish a presence.
