Not many instances in world history, one witnesses, a civilian, orchestrates a dramatic coup on armed forces, only to dislodge them from vantage position. Welcome to Turkey, away from our thoughts, a person in this case President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, successfully dramatizes a perfect coup to dislodge and disarm his foes and strengthen his hold on power. The timing of this drama couldn't be better when ISIS has wrecked havoc in neighboring Syria and geographical location of Turkey gave it the leverage to silence critics in the west.
As Reichstag fire in 1933 gave Hitler opportunity to usurp power, the failed coup is being milked by Erdogan to chase away his political rivals and demean army who had been a fiercely secular organization in that troubled part of the world. It comes as no surprise then, in his bid of assuming total power for himself , Erdogan doesn't shy away from taking inspiration from Nazi Germany , acknowledging , as he publicly quoted in defense of legitimizing his rise as " “There are already examples in the world. You can see it when you look at Hitler’s Germany”.
Ankara's march towards religious authoritative regime started, when alliance was forged between (Erdogan's) AKP party and Sunni Wahhabi Gulenists. The marriage between radicals and supremacists in Turkey, resulted in re-emphasising religion in public discourse and weaning away of secular fabric . The introduction of religious symbols, primacy of headscarves for women, physical violence during fasting months etc were some of the visible signs, that would have made even Ataturk turn in his grave. The split between the two erstwhile bed partners triggered the recent onslaught and carefully engineered coup.
Erdogan lust for power can be gauged from the fact that he shamelessly announced that July 15 failed coup, is a god sent opportunity and he is exploiting it to the hilt. More than 120,000 Turks have been sacked, nearly 90,000 detained, and more than 40,000 have been arrested, scores of them journalists who were castigated for not towing governments dictates. Already 160 media outlets are closed down while conditions deteriorating quickly for others. The farcical coup to dethrone Erdogan government, can be understood when, government that is a democracy, a member of NATO, and is vigorously pursuing membership of the EU , mischievously, dismantled in April 2016, The National Human Rights Institution of Turkey, which had access to detention facilities in Turkey to monitor conditions of detenues.
Silencing West with his antics, of failed promises and threats of refugees influx into Europe , Erdogans zeal to usurp unaccountable power and his dream of transforming Turkey as the head of Sunni Islamic power, referring to Ottoman rule is understandable. Even mentioning Armenian genocide is now punishable , downing Russian fighter jet gives innuendoes that unreasonable demands of Erdogan either to silence critics or slaying Kurds or illegal demand of dislodging Assad should be honored or theatrics will continue. The covert support to IS regime and Sunni terrorist organizations in Iraq and Syria by Turkey was ignored by world even at the expense of genocides of Kurds, Shias, Christians and Yazidis.
Russian engagement in Syria and the defeat of ISIS (proteges of Turkey , Saudis ), seems to have thwarted attempt by ambitious Erdogan to grab land and undermine Kurdistan movement, is reminiscent of Hitler gobbling of Czechoslovakia before second world war. The international community is conspicuously silent to the blatant abuse of authority by Turkish government on freedom .The time has come for world leaders to speak in one voice against the viscous propaganda unleashed there and catch the bluff of a manic or the fragile and explosive situation in middle east has the potential to draw the world into chaos. The world has paid a heavy price for the antics of one man in history, it would be interesting to see, whether we have learnt anything from our past mistakes, or the world will shun the vulnerable and maintain its deafening silence as it suits selfish interest and for how long ?
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