2023-05-14 15:21:46
Twenty years in power and he wants more: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is campaigning for re-election far from being a mere formality. In July 2016, his reign had already been threatened, but not by the ballot box: putschists had tried to overthrow him by force.
It all started on July 15, when hundreds of putschist soldiers took over strategic positions in Istanbul, the country’s largest city, and Ankara, the capital. They announce on television that they want “to restore constitutional order, democracy, human rights and freedoms”. This faction of the army calls itself the “Council of Peace in the Country”.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan reacts by calling on his supporters to take to the streets, a wish relayed by the imams. Rumor has it that the Turkish leader has sought exile in Germany as deadly clashes erupt between rebels and loyalists. The Parliament and the presidential palace are bombarded by the insurgents.
The opposition denounces the coup
The parliamentary opposition denounced the putsch and the majority of the army, which had supported coups in 1960, 1971 and 1980, refused to join it. The chief of staff is taken hostage, but his deputy remains loyal to the government. According to the authorities, 8,651 soldiers participated in the coup, or 1.5% of the workforce.
The next day, the revolt is put down. The clashes left at least 290 dead, including 100 putschists. A former head of the air force and the former legal adviser to the general staff are presented as the brains of the rebellion.
On July 20, the Turkish government declares a three-month state of emergency that restricts civil liberties and increases the power of the police. Recep Tayyip Erdogan then reinstated the death penalty, abolished in 2004 in the hope of joining the European Union. If Brussels condemns the coup attempt, it recalls that Ankara will not be able to join the Union by reintroducing capital punishment.
Fethullah Gülen singled out
The Turkish power also points the finger at Fethullah Gülen, leader of an Islamist brotherhood exiled in the United States, and begins a massive repression against his supporters. Tens of thousands of officials are arrested in the courts, the police or education. Schools and universities are closed, associations dissolved and the media banned.
This coup attempt is one of the reasons that pushed Recep Tayyip Erdogan to initiate a constitutional reform transforming the Turkish parliamentary system into a presidential system, fueling criticism of its authoritarian drift.
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