IT BEGAN in the evening. Military vehicles took over the two bridges over the Bosporus; helicopters clattered and military jets roared overhead. Soon came the news, familiar to an older generation of Turks but forgotten by the current one: soldiers had staged a coup. They declared in a statement: “To restore the constitutional order, human rights and freedoms, the rule of law, and public order, the Turkish armed forces have taken complete control of the country.”
Hours later, though, their control was far from complete, and they seemed to be losing their gamble. Amid reports of fighting, explosions at the parliament, anti-coup street protests—and even a report of a loyalist jet shooting down a coup-plotters’ helicopter—it was plain that the soldiers had failed to swiftly establish control. That is a key requirement of a successful coup. Gradually, several current and former army commanders, as well as all of the country’s major political parties, denounced the subversion of democracy. The leaders of the West—led by Barack Obama and Angela...Continue reading
Souce: Europe http://ift.tt/29WXmH7
EmoticonEmoticon