More than 160 people, many of them civilians, are now confirmed dead – while over a 1000 others were wounded following overnight clashes, gunfire and explosions, principally in Turkey’s major cities of Ankara and Istanbul. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has insisted his government is back in charge and promised to purge the armed forces of rebels.
“Statements by the military, initiating the coup are noteworthy enough. They said this was an attempt to restore democracy and human rights, and this was an attempt to raise the honor of the humiliated military, i.e. the last attempt of Ataturkists—to make Turkey, existent in the 1980s, more secular. What would happen if this military won? It’s difficult to say. It’s not excluded, though, that as a rule, it would be followed by what has been followed almost after any military coup since 1960—reconceptualization of USA-Turkey relations.”
“Turkey’s internal life has entered a different-quality phase,” Cengiz Aktar, well-known publicist, Associate Professor at Süleyman Şah University, told 168.am reflecting to the attempted coup overnight. He stated that the night will leave a rather negative track in Turkey’s internal life. Aktar said that an attempted coup was recorded by planned military figures or intellectuals of the regime.
“Attempted coup, in fact, has foiled. A while ago the Prime Minister mentioned in his speech that the attempt foiled, and they’re controlling it. However, he also called on the people to go to the streets with the flags of Turkey. It’s interesting if plotters have been completely neutralized, and they’re controlling the situation, why did Erdogan call on the people? Basically, not everything has calmed down, either they are afraid of the second attempt. Attempted coup was mainly initiated by General Command of the Turkish Air Force and Gendarmerie General Command.”
Secretary General Zannier expressed faith in the wisdom of the Turkish leadership: “ I call on the Turkish Government and democratic institutions to exercise restraint in the aftermath of last night’s events. Rule of law, democracy, respect for human rights and freedom of the media must be upheld even in difficult times. We stand ready to support Turkey in safeguarding the common values and principles that constitute the cornerstone of the OSCE,” said Zannier.
“As a result of its adventurous policy in the field of foreign policy Turkey appeared on the threshold of heavy geo-political defeat, that’s why they attempted to overcome that situation by settling its relations with Russia and Israel. Crisis was observed inside the country as well: basically, Kurdish rebel movement continues, and they fail to put an end to that. On the other hand, we observe among the society, that polarization between powers sharing different views is intensifying, and a part of the army decided to put an end to that situation and alienate Islamists, represented by Erdogan, from the authorities. However, we observed, that the army didn’t act united,” the Turkologist said.
Turkish president Tayyip Erdoğan is reportedly seeking asylum in Europe, as a military coup continues in Turkey, U.S. military sources tell NBC News. Erdoğan’s presidential jet was allegedly denied landing rights at Istanbul’s airport, before heading out of the country. He was then denied asylum in Germany, according to NBC, before heading to London.
Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ announced 1563 members of the Turkish armed forces have been arrested, 5 generals, 29 colonels were dismissed from their posts for the coup attempt. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim announced that one of the generals supporting the coup has been killed during the operations. According to the preliminary data, the Armenian citizens or Armenians didn’t suffer during the military operations in Turkey.
The Armenian citizens, who are currently in Turkey and need support, must apply to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, Armenian Foreign Ministry’s Spokesman Tigran Balayan posted a note in Twitter.
The video shows Turkish military personnel crossing the Bosphorus bridge with their hands in the air following an attempted coup against the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
