21st Century Wire says…
The fall-out from last week’s failed coup d’etat in Turkey has been more gruesome than many imagined, as pro-government AKP and Muslim Brotherhood suppoters have taken to the streets to administer an ‘ISIS-like’ brand of justice on behalf of the ruling party.
What many feared would happen has already come to fruition: President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (image, left) has moved ahead with a brutal crack-down on dissent in further consolidation of power.
A massive purge of the President’s political opposition began from Saturday morning, with orders issued for the round-up of at least 3,000 troops to date who are suspected of playing a role in the coup plot, along with a further 2,700 arrest warrants issued for judges – a clear sign that no one will be offered a fair defense or trial by the Erdogan government. That number is expected to grow by Monday.
The theocratic-oriented president then proceeded to invoke God while administering the ongoing purge:
“This uprising is a gift from God to us because this will be a reason to cleanse our army.”
As 21WIRE reported yesterday, the embattled Turkish President and his party, have ignited street violence through their network of politically-affiliated Imams in Mosques, effectively deploying the President’s street army of AKP supporters and Muslim Brotherhood followers, to hunt down and punish any military and civilian dissidents. On top of that, the government has appeared to have issued ‘stand down’ orders to police forces, regarding and AKP and Muslim Brotherhood ‘street justice’, and thus allowing the torturing and public slaughtering of any unarmed, low-level military employees.
This amounts to state-sanctioned mobs exacting violent political retribution – not unlike the US-backed, violent NeoNazi street mobs in the Ukraine which were unleashed to carry out political lustration under the newly installed fascist-oriented government in Kiev. What makes the scene in Turkey more dangerous though, is the injection of a radical pseudo-religious agenda being fostered by the Erdogan leadership.
Other reports are also suggesting that pro-government Islamist mobs have also carried out street beheadings of low-level military:
“A Turkish soldier has reportedly been beheaded on Istanbul’s Bosphorus Bridge by a pro-government mob. Graphic video footage and images online show the soldier lying on the ground surrounded by a pool of blood.”
Harrowing scenes are reported by the world’s media as soldiers are beaten, tortured and murdered in open streets all around Turkey today.
The aftermath of the military coup that began last night is proving to be quite bloody as horrific scenes takes place by Islamist Erdogan supporters all around Turkey today.
The police are reported to be allowing it to happen without intervention…
Turkish authorities were on Sunday rounding up dozens of generals as well as senior judges and prosecutors accused of supporting a failed military coup aimed at ousting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The government has already said that almost 3,000 soldiers had been detained on suspicion of involvement in the putsch which began on Friday night but faltered already in the early hours of Saturday.
NTV television said that 34 generals of various grades had been detained so far. They include senior figures like Erdal Ozturk, commander of the third army and commander of the Malatya-based second army Adem Huduti.
The authorities have been carrying out raids at military bases across Turkey in search of those suspected of supporting the coup, which has claimed at least 265 lives.
The crackdown is, however, not restricted to the military and Anadolu said that prosecutors have issued arrest warrants for a total of 2,745 judges and prosecutors across Turkey.
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has described the attempted military coup as a 'gift from God' as it will allow him to 'cleanse' the army.
The hard-line Islamist leader managed to cling onto power after making a dramatic appeal over FaceTime for his supporters to confront the military who attempted to seize strategic locations in Istanbul and Ankara.
Erdogan, who was in Marmaris on the Mediterranean coast at the time, rang a journalist who put him live on air to make his dramatic appeal for support.
After returning to Istanbul overnight on the Turkish Government Gulfstream IV jet, Erdogan addressed jubilant followers as his security forces launched their purge on elements accused of disloyalty.
Erdogan made a brief public appearance amid a phalanx of heavily-armed bodyguards, he said: 'They will pay a heavy price for this. This uprising is a gift from God to us because this will be a reason to cleanse our army.'
Life in Turkey is back to normal after a failed coup attempt, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Sunday afternoon, saying the central bank, capital markets board, banking system and stock exchange were all functional.
At least 265 people were killed in clashes between the armed forces and police. Scores of civilians were among the dead.
Rebel leader General Erdal Ozturk, who commands armed forces in Istanbul has been arrested and charged with treason. The state-run news agency Anadolu said the commander of the Second Army, which guards the borders with Iraq, Syria and Iran has also been detained.
Many soldiers who participated in the coup have been beaten up by Erdogan's supporters.
Meanwhile, a Turkish government official reported that the commander of an air base used by U.S.-led coalition jets that conduct bombing runs against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria has been detained.
The official said Sunday that Gen. Bekir Ercan Van, ten other soldiers and one police officer from the Incirlik base are detained for their role in the botched Friday coup attempt.
The Turkish private DHA news agency showed footage of Van handcuffed and pushed into a van outside a courthouse.
After he emerged from the jet, he announced the coup was over before branding the rebel soldiers as 'traitors'.
Turkish officials claimed some of the plotters were based in Incirlik air base in the south east of the country from where the US military is conducting bombing missions against ISIS in northern Syria.
Tens of thousands of supporters of the regime gathered in cities across Turkey with Prime Minister Binali Yildirim claiming those behind the coup 'will receive every punishment they deserve'.
He and Erdogan have indicted laws banning the death penalty could be repealed so those involved in the coup could be executed.
Eight members of the coup fled to Greece on a stolen Blackhawk helicopter.
Greek PM Alexis Tsipras said the eight men's asylum applications would be dealt with 'quickly.
Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish research at The Washington Institute said Erdogan has been strengthened by the coup.
He said the president was now a 'sort of mythical figure'.
Cagaptay said: 'It will allow him (Erdogan) to crack down on liberty and freedom of association, assembly, expression and media in ways that we haven't seen before and find strong public support within the country.'
Fadi Hakura, a Turkey expert at the Chatham House think tank in London, said the attempted coup appeared to have been 'carried out by lower-ranking officers'.
'Their main gripe seems to have been President Erdogan's attempt to transform his office into a powerful and centralised executive presidency. In the short term, this failed coup plot will strengthen President Erdogan.'
0 comments:
Post a Comment