The world is plagued by leaders who implement massive power grabs and take root in governance after being “elected”.
The so-called “autocrats’ playbook” they use includes enlarging executive power at the expense of Parliament and government institutions, cracking down on democratic dissent, appealing to populism and nationalism, controlling the media and information, enriching loyalists and subjugating others to control big business, secretly manipulating elections, undermining judicial independence and abusing states of emergency.
The primer is shared, to varying degrees, by leaders of countries like Nicaragua, Venezuela, Hungary, Belarus, Russia and Turkey, which added a new chapter: a “controlled” or “false flag” coup.
On a horrible night six years ago, on July 15, 2016, a group of Turkish military personnel were mobilized in what appeared to be a coup attempt to overthrow the government, which claimed the lives of over 250 people, and injured more. of 2,100.
The Turkish military has carried out military coups and changed civilian governments three times before, but this event was different. The extraordinary ineptitude of the execution of the attempt, combined with Erdogan’s cheerful reception of it, the declaration of an alleged perpetrator without any investigation, massive and light purges based on pre-existing purge lists led foreign observers to believe that this was not a genuine military coup attempt, but a “controlled” or “false flag” coup.
David Weinberg, vice president of The Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, said the incident bore strong signs of a false flag operation, that is, “a covert operation that appears to have been carried out by another group or government”.
The attempt was remarkably clumsy, performed “on the wrong day of the week and at the wrong time of day”; the perpetrators “failed” to “quickly take control of key positions of power” and key channels of communication for Erdogan; they “failed” to capture any significant government officials; and they “missed clear opportunities to remove Erdogan himself from power.”
Furthermore, Weinberg noted that 99 generals who were arrested for involvement in the coup could have organized a much more effective plan to overthrow the government if they had wanted to. Finally, Erdogan claimed that 9,000 police, 6,000 soldiers, 30 regional governors and 50 high-ranking civil servants were also in the attempt, but none of these people leaked this to an intelligence informant.
This utterly unbelievable story was sold to the Turkish public by Erdogan-controlled media while prosecuting anyone who expressed opposing narratives with terrorism charges.
After using the term “controlled coup” to describe the incident, the leader of the CHP, the largest opposition party, was beaten by pro-Erdogan henchmen in broad daylight. The leader of another party, the pro-Kurdish HDP, Selahattin Demirtas, was arrested shortly after declaring that Erdogan had full prior knowledge of the incident and that he added dramatic elements to heighten his appeal to the media.
After silencing opposing narratives, Erdogan filled the vacuum with propaganda, falsely blaming supporters of Turkish preacher Fethullah Gulen — who has lived in self-imposed exile in the United States since 1999. Gulen denounced the coup and its perpetrators as it was happening and repeatedly denied any involvement. He invited Erdogan to give permission to an independent international court and pledged to comply with its decision. Erdogan never responded to this appeal.
Instead, Erdogan – who called the attempt “a gift from God” – used it as an excuse to go after hundreds of thousands of innocent Turkish civilians, including firing, detaining, arresting, imprisoning, kidnapping and torturing people simply for association with the peaceful Hizmet movement, which promotes equal access to quality education, interfaith dialogue, mutual respect and humanitarian aid.
In the political process of the Hizmet movement, the so-called “evidence” presented to the court to prove “guilt” was a classic example of “guilt by association.” Teachers, doctors, journalists and housewives were arrested based on criteria such as whether they sent their children to a Hizmet-affiliated school, whether they subscribed to a Hizmet-affiliated newspaper or magazine, and whether they opened an account at a financial institution whose founders were participating. from Hizmet.
Western governments and observers were not convinced of the blame he placed on Gulen and Hizmet sympathizers. The US government, despite repeated requests, has not received any evidence from Turkey implicating Gulen and has refused to extradite him. Nor is the British Parliament’s investigative committee. Both US and German intelligence chiefs publicly stated that Erdogan’s allegations against Gulen were not supported by evidence.
Erdogan’s use of the playbook began before 2016, when he acquired control of media organizations, enriched loyal businessmen, and fired and arrested prosecutors and judges. By passing abusive and far-reaching anti-terrorist laws, and by politically controlling judicial appointments, he turned the judiciary into an instrument of political punishment. July 15th allowed Erdogan to make sweeping constitutional changes to become an executive president with enormous powers and no accountability.
From 2014 to 2020, Turkey’s rating dropped from “partially free” to “not free” and the country became the worst perpetrator of transnational repression according to Freedom House. The United Nations Working Groups on Arbitrary Detention and Enforced Disappearance have issued several rulings against Turkey’s transnational kidnappings, declaring them a violation of international law and fundamental human rights.
The Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders have repeatedly called Turkey the worst jailer of journalists in the world. The European Court of Human Rights has issued several rulings declaring Turkey’s arrest of democratic dissidents as politically motivated. Amnesty International concluded in its 2021 national report that in Turkey “opposition politicians, journalists, human rights defenders and others have faced groundless investigations, prosecutions and convictions”.
Even pregnant women and women who have just given birth could not escape the politically motivated accusations. Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein protested that the arrest of pregnant women and women who have just given birth is “simply outrageous, utterly cruel and certainly can have nothing to to do with making the country safer”.
Contrary to the opinion piece by Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavusoglu, July 15 was not a victory for democracy for Turkey, on the contrary, it marked the acceleration of President Erdogan’s massive seizure of power, the annihilation of democratic dissent and the beginning of mass punishment for over a million peaceful citizens.
