Turkish coup and the aftermath

After thwarting the attempted coup 8,000 people were arrested on the order of President Erdogan, which include members of army, judiciary, university and college teachers, a large number of government officials

There was an overwhelming joy in some countries including Bangladesh that a military coup had failed in Turkey and they hailed the people of Turkey for defeating the army generals. If this is the real scenario everyone who loves democracy and believes in people's power could rejoice in the victory of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the elected president of Turkey. He is the leader of the party in power which is known to be an Islamist party.
At first it was generally speculated that the vast number of army officers in Turkey were not happy for Erdogan government's religious leanings and they revolted as they thought this was a betrayal of the secularist policy of the father of the Nation, Kemal Ataturk. But the President himself blamed that his opponent Fethullah Gulen, a US-based Muslim cleric was responsible for this failed coup. At the same time General Akin Ozturk, the former Air-force Commander was accused as the ringleader of the coup and was paraded on the street in handcuffs. Ozturk is not an Islamist, so there is a conflict about the sources of the coup, whether it was inspired by more virulent Islamic group or a secular section of the army. There lies the real question whether this aborted coup was a real one or stage-managed by a President who was democratically elected but is now accused of running a repressive regime.
After thwarting the attempted coup 8,000 people were arrested on the order of President Erdogan, which include members of army, judiciary, university and college teachers, a large number of government officials including police and other professionals. President Erdogan has threatened that he will ratify any decision by parliament to reintroduce the death penalty which was abolished in Turkey in 2004 as part of a bid to join the European Union. He said, "Why should I keep them (the accused people) and feed them in prison for years to come? You cannot put aside the people's demand to give them capital punishment".
Not only innumerable people from civil and military administration but thousands of judges have also been held. The uprising was crushed before it properly started and thousands of people were arrested so speedily that it has given birth to speculation that this list of arrested people were prepared before the coup. An EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn said, "President Erdogan seems to have decided who to round up even before his followers faced down rebel troops on Friday". He said, "The lists of names are available, which indicates it was prepared and to be used at a certain stage. I am very concerned." It seems that his concerns are not baseless. Some 9000 workers in the interior ministry including police officers have been sacked following the coup, which Mr.Erdogan has blamed on Fathullah Gulen, a US-based Muslim cleric. On the other hand Mr. Gulen has accused Erdogan of orchestrating the rebellion himself as a pretext for a purge. Erdogan has declared emergency in Turkey for 3 months
America, Britain, France, Germany and even Israel have condemned the attempted coup as a rhetoric. There is little conviction in many European leader's minds that whether it was a real military coup. German Chancellor Angella Merkel has already warned Turkey that it will be barred from joining the EU if it executes the alleged plotters following last week's failed coup. She had spoken to President Erdogan over phone to express her concern. She said,  A country that has the death penalty can't be a member of the EU. The introduction of death penalty would mean end of your accession negotiation. Death penalty had been abolished in EU long before."
There is no doubt that a large section of the ordinary people have resisted the attempted coup because they have bitter experience of martial law regime in the past. Now news is emerging that it was not wholly people's resistance that foiled the bid. It was Erdogan's militant party AK which was secretly organized and armed to resist any secularist uprising or an uprising of armed forces in Turkey. The pictures which were shown to the outside world indicated that the protesters were largely composed of the supporters of Erdogan. They yelled abuse at the defeated rebels, manhandled General Ozturk with 70 other generals and admirals who were shown in the TV with their hands bound and physically harassed. Some western news agency said that the main resistance came from armed and organized supporters of the government and only a section of people joined them.
Though Mr. Erdogan's Islamist party came to power winning an election but soon after his regime became a dictatorial one. His records of violation on human and civil rights alarmed other European nations also. He wanted to destroy the secular state philosophy founded by Ataturk by using his militant political party. They penetrated into civil and military administration but could not annihilate the civil society's secular ideals in judiciary and civil services. Erdogan government's purging was also very ruthless in those sectors.
It has been alleged that he was waiting for the opportune moment to purge the army and to oust the generals who are still loyal to Ataturk's ideals. He changed his foreign policy ruthlessly and made it pro-Islamist making friendship with Saudi Arabia, America and Israel. He antagonized Russia by helping western arms intervention in Syria and even openly opposed the execution of war criminals in Bangladesh. There is a strong suspicion among some western observers that this military coup has given Erdogan a handle to establish a more dictatorial regime and it would not be a surprise if one day it was revealed that this coup was plotted by his cohorts.
It is too early to know the real truth. I wonder if this Turkish coup is a copycat coup of Pakistan and Bangladesh. In 1950 after the death of Mr. Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, the-then Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan assumed dictatorial power. He was a man from Uttar Pradesh (India) and had no roots in any provinces of Pakistan. He was suspicious that his opposition is gaining stronghold among civil and military administrations and the opposition political parties were clamouring for establishing democratic rights in the country. Liaquat Ali wanted to destroy this opposition before it became stronger. Suddenly one day a news flashed out all over the country that there was an attempted coup by military to overthrow the Liaquat government. General Akbar, the-then Army Chief with other generals, a number of civilians including a Leftist poet were arrested. Hundreds of political leaders of the opposition were held. The followers of Liaquat Ali cheerfully declared that the country was out of danger, that they had crushed a military uprising which had support from India and Communist leaders. Later on it was revealed that General Ayub (then a Brigadier) along with his some of his supporters collaborated with PM Liaquat Ali to purge the army, make it more loyal to the PM and destroy the opposition in the political field.
Almost similar drama was staged in Bangladesh in the later part of the70s when General Ziaur Rahman captured the power with bloodbath and was still unsure about his regime's stability. More than 18 big or small military coups took place during his reign. Now the true pictures are coming out that most of those uprisings were plotted by Ziaur Rahman himself. By instigating these mock revolts in the army he imprisoned Army officers, political leaders, including his one-time saviour Colonel Taher and executed 1300 officers who were mostly freedom fighters and crushed his oppositions in the military and political field. Like Liaquat Ali of Pakistan General Ziaur Rahman of Bangladesh could not escape his fate. Both were assassinated just after they quashed the uprisings plotted by themselves. If the recent coup in Turkey is a copycat of Pakistan and Bangladesh then I do not know what future is awaiting for the Turkish people who were once proud of their secular and democratic state-ideals. I do not know if this victory of Erdogan's will prevail or not.

London, Friday 22 July, 2016

Turkish coup and the aftermath

After thwarting the attempted coup 8,000 people were arrested on the order of President Erdogan, which include members of army, judiciary, university and college teachers, a large number of government officials

There was an overwhelming joy in some countries including Bangladesh that a military coup had failed in Turkey and they hailed the people of Turkey for defeating the army generals. If this is the real scenario everyone who loves democracy and believes in peoples power could rejoice in the victory of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the elected president of Turkey. He is the leader of the party in power which is known to be an Islamist party. At first it was generally speculated that the vast number of army officers in Turkey were not happy for Erdogan governments religious leanings and they revolted as they thought this was a betrayal of the secularist policy of the father of the Nation, Kemal Ataturk. But the President himself blamed that his opponent Fethullah Gulen, a US-based Muslim cleric was responsible for this failed coup. At the same time General Akin Ozturk, the former Air-force Commander was accused as the ringleader of the coup and was paraded on the street in handcuffs. Ozturk is not an Islamist, so there is a conflict about the sources of the coup, whether it was inspired by more virulent Islamic group or a secular section of the army. There lies the real question whether this aborted coup was a real one or stage-managed by a President who was democratically elected but is now accused of running a repressive regime. After thwarting the attempted coup 8,000 people were arrested on the order of President Erdogan, which include members of army, judiciary, university and college teachers, a large number of government officials including police and other professionals. President Erdogan has threatened that he will ratify any decision by parliament to reintroduce the death penalty which was abolished in Turkey in 2004 as part of a bid to join the European Union. He said, Why should I keep them (the accused people) and feed them in prison for years to come? You cannot put aside the peoples demand to give them capital punishment. Not only innumerable people from civil and military administration but thousands of judges have also been held. The uprising was crushed before it properly started and thousands of people were arrested so speedily that it has given birth to speculation that this list of arrested people were prepared before the coup. An EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn said, President Erdogan seems to have decided who to round up even before his followers faced down rebel troops on Friday. He said, The lists of names are available, which indicates it was prepared and to be used at a certain stage. I am very concerned. It seems that his concerns are not baseless. Some 9000 workers in the interior ministry including police officers have been sacked following the coup, which Mr.Erdogan has blamed on Fathullah Gulen, a US-based Muslim cleric. On the other hand Mr. Gulen has accused Erdogan of orchestrating the rebellion himself as a pretext for a purge. Erdogan has declared emergency in Turkey for 3 months America, Britain, France, Germany and even Israel have condemned the attempted coup as a rhetoric. There is little conviction in many European leaders minds that whether it was a real military coup. German Chancellor Angella Merkel has already warned Turkey that it will be barred from joining the EU if it executes the alleged plotters following last weeks failed coup. She had spoken to President Erdogan over phone to express her concern. She said, A country that has the death penalty cant be a member of the EU. The introduction of death penalty would mean end of your accession negotiation. Death penalty had been abolished in EU long before. There is no doubt that a large section of the ordinary people have resisted the attempted coup because they have bitter experience of martial law regime in the past. Now news is emerging that it was not wholly peoples resistance that foiled the bid. It was Erdogans militant party AK which was secretly organized and armed to resist any secularist uprising or an uprising of armed forces in Turkey. The pictures which were shown to the outside world indicated that the protesters were largely composed of the supporters of Erdogan. They yelled abuse at the defeated rebels, manhandled General Ozturk with 70 other generals and admirals who were shown in the TV with their hands bound and physically harassed. Some western news agency said that the main resistance came from armed and organized supporters of the government and only a section of people joined them. Though Mr. Erdogans Islamist party came to power winning an election but soon after his regime became a dictatorial one. His records of violation on human and civil rights alarmed other European nations also. He wanted to destroy the secular state philosophy founded by Ataturk by using his militant political party. They penetrated into civil and military administration but could not annihilate the civil societys secular ideals in judiciary and civil services. Erdogan governments purging was also very ruthless in those sectors. It has been alleged that he was waiting for the opportune moment to purge the army and to oust the generals who are still loyal to Ataturks ideals. He changed his foreign policy ruthlessly and made it pro-Islamist making friendship with Saudi Arabia, America and Israel. He antagonized Russia by helping western arms intervention in Syria and even openly opposed the execution of war criminals in Bangladesh. There is a strong suspicion among some western observers that this military coup has given Erdogan a handle to establish a more dictatorial regime and it would not be a surprise if one day it was revealed that this coup was plotted by his cohorts. It is too early to know the real truth. I wonder if this Turkish coup is a copycat coup of Pakistan and Bangladesh. In 1950 after the death of Mr. Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, the-then Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan assumed dictatorial power. He was a man from Uttar Pradesh (India) and had no roots in any provinces of Pakistan. He was suspicious that his opposition is gaining stronghold among civil and military administrations and the opposition political parties were clamouring for establishing democratic rights in the country. Liaquat Ali wanted to destroy this opposition before it became stronger. Suddenly one day a news flashed out all over the country that there was an attempted coup by military to overthrow the Liaquat government. General Akbar, the-then Army Chief with other generals, a number of civilians including a Leftist poet were arrested. Hundreds of political leaders of the opposition were held. The followers of Liaquat Ali cheerfully declared that the country was out of danger, that they had crushed a military uprising which had support from India and Communist leaders. Later on it was revealed that General Ayub (then a Brigadier) along with his some of his supporters collaborated with PM Liaquat Ali to purge the army, make it more loyal to the PM and destroy the opposition in the political field. Almost similar drama was staged in Bangladesh in the later part of the70s when General Ziaur Rahman captured the power with bloodbath and was still unsure about his regimes stability. More than 18 big or small military coups took place during his reign. Now the true pictures are coming out that most of those uprisings were plotted by Ziaur Rahman himself. By instigating these mock revolts in the army he imprisoned Army officers, political leaders, including his one-time saviour Colonel Taher and executed 1300 officers who were mostly freedom fighters and crushed his oppositions in the military and political field. Like Liaquat Ali of Pakistan General Ziaur Rahman of Bangladesh could not escape his fate. Both were assassinated just after they quashed the uprisings plotted by themselves. If the recent coup in Turkey is a copycat of Pakistan and Bangladesh then I do not know what future is awaiting for the Turkish people who were once proud of their secular and democratic state-ideals. I do not know if this victory of Erdogans will prevail or not. London, Friday 22 July, 2016