Mass Arrests After Failed Coup in Turkey

By Jeralyn, Section Foreign Affairs
Posted on Sat Jul 16, 2016 at 06:27:29 PM EST
Tags: Turkey, Gulen (all tags)

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Turkey's president Erdogan is demanding the U.S. extradite his long time enemy, Fetullah Gulen, alternatively described as a Muslim cleric and scholar or an Islamic ideologue, whom he says is responsible for the failed coup in Turkey. Gulen has resided in Pennsylvania for years.

An extradition request was submitted in Turkey the day before the coup.

Thousands of people have been detained in the coup's wake. More than 2,700 judges and prosecutors have been dismissed and 132 judges have been arrested.

The detainees are accused of being members of FETO, the terrorist organization led by U.S.-based preacher Fetullah Gulen. Friday night saw military elements make a “vile” attempt to overthrow Turkey’s elected government, according to Prime Minister Binali Yildirim. Around 160 people were martyred in the ensuing violence.

Some 2,839 military personnel involved in the coup attempt have been arrested, and 20 pro-coup soldiers, including some senior officers, were killed in the attempt to overthrow the government.

[More...]

Sounds like they had a list of the judges before the coup.

In Pennsylvania, Gulen denies involvement in the failed coup. (no link due to autoplay video)

While everyone seems aligned on the issue of the wrongheadedness of the coup, given the mass arrests, it does seem like Turkey needs to curtail the witch-hunting in the aftermath. This journalist/author has quite a bleak assessment:

The coup attempt was highly undemocratic. In any real democracy the military should be firmly confined to the barracks and not interfere in the political process. The irony is that after this failed coup attempt, Turkey is yet again another step further from being a true democracy and will see a witch hunt against opponents of Erdogan and the AKP. The future is bleak for Turkey.

One thing I thought was interesting: Here, whenever there is violence the authorities tell you to stay home. In Turkey, Erdogan repeatedly called on people to take to the streets in support of democracy.

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Mass Arrests After Failed Coup in Turkey | 25 comments (25 topical)

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Amazing how (5.00 / 1) (#2)
by Redbrow on Sat Jul 16, 2016 at 08:38:28 PM EST

They were able to able to analyze evidence, charge, try and find 2700 juges guilty of conspiring with Gulen in less than a day.

Or maybe these judges were already on Erdogan's hit list but he lacked the legal authority to remove them until this 'coup' that he characterized as a "gift from allah".

Who will fill the void left by these 2700 judges?

Maybe Sharia courts in the works?

Every head Imam of every mosque is a full fledged sharia judge and there are over 80,000 mosques in Turkey, the highest mosque per capita in the world.

: The purge list (none / 0) (#22)
by Abdul Abulbul Amir on Mon Jul 18, 2016 at 07:55:04 AM EST

The purge list was already to go.

i agree (none / 0) (#1)
by linea on Sat Jul 16, 2016 at 07:01:49 PM EST

but i am confused and conflicted about "gulen" - radical cleric or ideologue? p.s. i couldnt get full access to the article on haaretz.

[yes, for you "regular posters" i actually try to read the cited articles before replying. because im actually rather smart and actually make an effort to understand the topic.]

The clinton foundation (none / 0) (#3)
by Redbrow on Sat Jul 16, 2016 at 08:44:01 PM EST

Has revieved at least a million dollars from Gulen activists in the US and Huna Abedin has strong ties to Gulen activists.

Huma was able to use her gravitas to hastily arreange a meeting between a high level Gulen supporter and Obama who flew to Turkey three days after the meeting request.

im still confused (none / 0) (#4)
by linea on Sat Jul 16, 2016 at 09:05:22 PM EST

is gulen a radical cleric encouraging jihad?


Google (5.00 / 1) (#5)
by CaptHowdy on Sat Jul 16, 2016 at 09:23:50 PM EST

is our friend


bite me (1.00 / 1) (#8)
by linea on Sat Jul 16, 2016 at 10:10:40 PM EST

nothing political on the internet is true unless it's endorsed by Sverigedemokraterna.


Wouldn't reading it here (5.00 / 1) (#9)
by CaptHowdy on Sat Jul 16, 2016 at 10:20:59 PM EST

Still be, you know, on the Internet?


: no (3.67 / 3) (#14)
by linea on Sat Jul 16, 2016 at 11:06:44 PM EST

cuz it's spozed to be friends talking. you just dont know how to be friends.

From want I see (none / 0) (#7)
by Redbrow on Sat Jul 16, 2016 at 09:27:05 PM EST

Gulen wants to spread Islam peacefully by education not by violence.

The gulen movement seems primarily composed of more educated people like doctors, lawyers, scientists, teachers and entrepeneurs. They have opened quite a few charter schools in the US.

The billionaire owner of the Chobani Yogurt company is very active in the Gulen movement.


: he seems to be running (none / 0) (#10)
by The Addams Family on Sat Jul 16, 2016 at 10:40:48 PM EST

something between a 3-tier (businessmen, "journalists," & "teachers") charter-school franchise & a cult

I did a double take (none / 0) (#6)
by CaptHowdy on Sat Jul 16, 2016 at 09:25:33 PM EST

Knowing nothing about this guy when Erdogan made some reference about the government being run from Pennsylvania.

Wait, what? Pennsylvania?

Gulen denies involvement... (5.00 / 1) (#12)
by desertswine on Sat Jul 16, 2016 at 10:53:31 PM EST

and suggests that the coup may have been "staged." I think he has a point.


: regarding Kerry's statement (none / 0) (#13)
by The Addams Family on Sat Jul 16, 2016 at 11:06:38 PM EST

earlier today that Erdogan should provide evidence of Gulen's involvement, i hope it was a challenge & not a request

: I don't believe the coup attempt was faked. (none / 0) (#21)
by Donald from Hawaii on Mon Jul 18, 2016 at 04:31:53 AM EST

I think it was poorly conceived, and further predicated upon the garnering of public support which obviously didn't happen. The rebels initially held Istanbul, but were never able to seize Ankara. And they allowed President Erdogan and Prime Minister Yildirim to escape their clutches.
I can see why some think the coup was staged, but I believe its failure was due primarily to ineptitude. The plotters should never have made their move without first knowing exactly where Erdogan and Yildirim were at the moment of truth, and then arresting them both before the tanks even rolled.
Aloha.

Me too. (none / 0) (#17)
by BarnBabe on Sun Jul 17, 2016 at 04:15:22 AM EST

Capt, I had fallen asleep with the TV on MSNBC and GOP VP talk. I wake up and there are crowds in the street and tanks in Turkey. Whoa. So when Erdogan is giving his Airport "The coup is over" speech I am listening to it in Turkish (?)and the one word I understood was Pennsylvania. The newsmen were even heh heh over this themselves while explaining about a cleric living in the Poconos being behind the coup.

I am a native of PA and even though I have resided in several large states, I am currently living in the Poconos. It is a large area outside of Scranton with about 3 or 4 counties. So like you I sat up and it was worth a WTF. Penna? I think I know all my neighbors in this small country community, but you never know. And we are not that far from NYC. My Grandparents had their 100 acre dairy farm here and Patty Hearst was hiding out not that far from me. But a Turkish cleric running a coup from their living room was a real surprise for me. It must be the fresh air and woods that draw people from the dark side. Just kidding. I had to laugh though, I had to laugh.


coup? (none / 0) (#11)
by The Addams Family on Sat Jul 16, 2016 at 10:45:27 PM EST

or false-flag operation in service of Erdogan's long-nurtured (& perhaps about to be consummated) goal of finally expunging the last vestiges of Ataturk by abolishing the constitution & making Turkey into an Islamist state with himself as absolute dictator?

Given that in the short amount (5.00 / 1) (#18)
by caseyOR on Sun Jul 17, 2016 at 10:46:12 AM EST

of time since this so-called coup attempt Erdogan has purged the judiciary of prosecutors and judges he did not like and seen to the arrests of many military people, as well as others who opposed Erdogan's goal of becoming a dictator, it is not hard to see this as a false flag operation.


sorry (none / 0) (#15)
by linea on Sat Jul 16, 2016 at 11:09:57 PM EST

i read false-flag and stopped rreading. my bad.


: was it something i said? (5.00 / 1) (#16)
by The Addams Family on Sat Jul 16, 2016 at 11:13:18 PM EST

Some analysts had warned of a possibl coup attempt (none / 0) (#19)
by pitachips on Sun Jul 17, 2016 at 02:15:14 PM EST

Maybe Erodogan got wind of someone making good on an attempt..made sure to lock up the support of the most senior defense officials and then let it happen? Wouldn't be surprised if the chief military officials encouraged the potential usurpers knowing it will fail. People are willing to do much worse in order to cling onto power.

Gen. Mehmet Disli, brother of ... (none / 0) (#20)
by Donald from Hawaii on Mon Jul 18, 2016 at 04:15:27 AM EST

... AKP parliamentary leader Saban Disli, has been identified by the Turkish government as the officer who led the attempted coup. Further, Rear Admiral Omer Faruk Harmancik, Commander of the Black Sea fleet, has been arrested. And an arrest warrant has been issued for President Erdogan's top military assistant, Ali Yazici.

(Sigh!) When you plot against the king, you better get the king.

Turkey has some pretty (none / 0) (#23)
by KeysDan on Mon Jul 18, 2016 at 12:16:52 PM EST

tough neighbors, Iraq, Iran, Syria, and the old Soviet Republics. It, too, has its own internal troubles with Kurds. And, its geography has made it a passage way for refugees and corridor for terrorists.

Given these factors as well as the importance of Turkey to the US, Erdogan's survival is the least bad of the outcomes. The coup (assuming it was not a false flag operation, which I do not believe it to be) should be a wake-up call for Erdogan, to heal internal divisions and exert more efforts to balance dangers with adherence to the rule of law.

But, it is more likely that Erdogan will go after opponents, further curtail the press and freedoms, and acquire more power. The scapegoating of "Gulenists," whomever Erdogan says are such, is a bad omen, and ploy to become more of an autocrat and wield oppression.

Thousands of Educators sacked (none / 0) (#24)
by Mr Natural on Tue Jul 19, 2016 at 10:33:19 AM EST

State-run Anadolu news agency reports that Turkey's Board of Higher Education has requested the resignations of 1,577 university deans, effectively dismissing them.
Tuesday's announcement comes right on the heels of an announcement by the Ministry of National Education that it has dismissed 15,200 personnel over their alleged involvement with a group the government claims is responsible for Friday's failed coup.
Of the deans dismissed, 1,176 worked in public universities and 401 in private institutions.

: And (none / 0) (#25)
by TrevorBolder on Tue Jul 19, 2016 at 10:47:59 AM EST

Do they have people lined up and ready to replace them?
Sure sounds like they had this Coup and Uprising mitigation plan all ready to roll out