Theory is that the army's not happy with the direction Erdogan is taking the country, making himself a little Putin and funding groups of fighters in Syria etc. But there's enough support in the country for him that it could get really ugly.
It was very weird to see a formation of F-16 fighter planes flying over the villa.!! All over now I think. Typical Turks, could not organise a piss-up in a brewery, nevermind a coup.!
I don't think it's over. Could get very nasty still. I didn't see the rest of the army come out in support of the erdogan government. And getting fighter jets up in the air and flying all night...you need the airbase secured, you need people to refuel and all that, the rest of the army might yet come out and the coup side. I didn't see soldiers coming in to stop the soldiers blockading. The Erdogan supporters and islamists though..they won't ever just give up and go home, if the coup continues there will be much more blood shed.
Looks like the Guys who started the coup are handing their weapons over to police. Erdogan back in Istanbul giving it the large one.
The fact that this country is even being concidered eligible to join the European union is a bit crazy. I take it if they had of been a member , the ' European' army would of been deployed to defend the government in power.So putting us in a west versus asia situation !
The country is so divided it is hard to get your head round the depth of feelings from each side. AKP supporters are almost fanatical to a man, as is the other side, its scary talking politics to any of them. You have to be so careful what you say. It is so different to back in the UK. You dont appreciate how much free speech you have until you come to a country llke here.They have been known to report foreigners to higher authorities if they say one tiny negative thing about Erdogan and expel them from the country. The other side is no better, though. It can be quite stressful to have a normal conversation sometimes. Its best to keep your opinions to yourself, keep your head down and just say you know nowt. The country has changed so much over the past decade. Some good and some bad. But when your own troops are firing missiles at the Presidential Palace, you know you have a huge problem. The hashtag, bring back the death penalty is trending on twitter I see too. If that happens then it will really kick off. If you think you may be executed for something then you go down with all guns blazing I think. Very Sad.
We live in one of, if not, the most free country in the world and yet so many do this country down, we have an incredible standard of living and despite what people may think a very safe society and yet so many are willing to talk our country down, I get really pissed off with people who talk down our country for political gain and self interest.
Currently in Turkey, in Antalya (lovely place, def recommend it for a holiday), haven't had any problems here thankfully. Things seem to have been sorted fairly quickly and there seems to be much less panic than yesterday. Apparently they have a military coup about every 10 years, ****wits.
The way Erdogan is going about chasing down all the 'perpetrators' has a faint whiff of the night of the long knives... Apparently the swiftness with which the government are acting is down to a pre-compiled list it had of 'suspected plotters'. A cynic would say that it's a convenient instrument to remove anyone who has ever spoken out against Erdogan. As Soccer Ninja said, a lot of innocents have died during this dark episode so thoughts go out to them.
2023 seems to be a big year for AKP. They are always saying wait till 2023 for a big surprise. It has something to do with a treaty they signed in 1923 I think. They all seem quite excited about though, which is worrying. My wife says we have to be back in the UK before then, so god knows what that means..
Must be all this ****e: http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/TPV3/Voices.php/2012/03/10/2012-is-not-the-end-of-the-world-it-s-2023 Or it could be this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_vision Or given your remarks it could be the above combined with this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Lausanne Perhaps they are planning a revolution which will see the reformation of the Otterman Empire. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-Ottomanism
The rise of the Ottoman Empire, Turkeys foreign policy drifting towards the middle east and away from europe, an east vs west situation gathering pace. Marvellous. Quite interesting to watch developments in Turkey, such a key region geographically to east and west.
