****'s sake - world has gone bonkers! Just watching this on BBC News, country on lockdown! Not sure if there's much bloodshed......yet!
? Quite the reverse I'd say. The Turkish military are deeply wedded to the principles of the secular state established by Ataturk. They have stepped in, regulalry, in the past with various constitutional and other crises, but always ultimately handed power back to a civilian government. Erdogan has been throwing people in prison, restricting freedom of speech, threatening to disband the constitutional court, alienating the young, encouraging Islamic fundamentalism. At the same time he has managed to respark a near civil war with the Kurds, shoots down Russian planes, has an ongoing either Kurdish or ISIS terrorist problem (despite his own hardline Muslim credentials), millions of Syrian refugees in his country, a war in Syria in which his enemy Assad seems to be getting stronger, and a collapsing economy due to a dying tourist industry. He is also building palaces left right and centre, guarded by anti aircraft missiles and is increasingly paranoiac. Time for a change before it gets much worse I think.
The opposite RTID. If successful, this will have a massive bearing on events in Syria. Right now, I hope all tourists in Turkey will be safe.
It's beginning to look very messy over there now. If Erdogan survives unscathed it could get very nasty for those who do not explicitly support him.
Great bit of dumbed down interviewing on the Beeb outside the Foreign Office as Chris Mason asks Alexander 'Boris' Johnson,"what advice are YOU GUYS giving to the two and a half million British holidaymakers that go to Turkey every year?" You guys! **** me.
Coup reported to have failed at this point, with military personnel being rounded up and arrested. I'll be very surprised if this is the end of it.
I think we should intervene militarily. It's not like we're predisposed elsewhere and it's all likely to turn out OK, isn't it? If we promote both Christianity and democracy, perhaps Turkey will vote for Christmas?
According to latest radio news something like 3000 armed forces personnel have been rounded up and detained....... There will be reprisals by Erdogan for sure.......
