Some more info:
There's talk that this may have been a dry run for a second coup attempt.
Its also come to light that there are 42 missing Turkish helicopters.

http://sputniknews.com/news/20160717/1043162524/helicopters-turkey-coup-erdogan-weapons.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxpuotIMlY0

It's also interesting that the US removing the families of military personnel out of Turkey for the last few months as well.
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/03/29/politics/pentagon-orders-military-families-to-leave-southern-turkey/

Shadow, do you now admit Liberal Party support for the American backed one party regime in South Vietnam, and the associated murder of more than a million people in a totally unjustified war was a mistake. I love the hypocritical way a Liberal like SM will take the moral high ground when it comes to freedom and democracy, yet forget how he supported trumped up dictators and despots in the past. Ferdinand Marcos and The Shah of Iran to name just two. Oh! and there was your one time support for Saddam Hussein and the Taliban.

Thanks for that Joe about SA. Is Turkey ready for an injection of democracy western style here and now, or will they rather op for something else, given the existing condition in their country is there much choice.

Hi Pau,

I would have thought that any thoughts of " .... an injection of democracy western style ...." would have been well and truly buried after Bush's invasion of Iraq, and the failure of the 'Arab Spring'.

Any tiny steps towards the recognition of the rights of ALL citizens to express their political wishes through the ballot box in Arab/Muslim countries will have to come from the people themselves - in their reformation of Islam, in the first instance.

In Europe, much of that struggle for separation of church and state, and for the recognition of the rights of all individuals, culminated in the Thirty Years' War, 1618-1648, in which proportionally more people were killed than in the First World War, whole regions resorted to cannibalism and much of Europe was completely depopulated.

I hope that Arabs/Muslims don't have to go through all that devastation as well before they agree to recognise the equal worth of all of their fellow citizens, regardless of religious affiliation.

Joe

Erdogan has now moved to normalise relations with Iran and Russia, and there's talk about Turkey leaving NATO, I assume he feels the coup was done on behalf of Gulen and the CIA.
Apparently the coup was rushed forward because the plotters believed they had been found out, which was why it was unsuccessful

Hi AC,

The word 'Byzantine' isn't applied to the convolutions and twists and turns and betrayals of politics for nothing :) What's the bet that Erdogan knew what was about to occur, how many were involved, where they planned to strike, etc., from the inside ?

As for his 'near-death' experience, my memory is faulty but didn't Hitler barely 'survive' an 'assassination attempt' in 1934, perhaps by his erstwhile cronies, the SA ? Or the Communists ? Or the Jews ? Or homosexuals ? Or left-handers ? Well, it worked for him, so why not for Erdogan ?

As a Sunni Islamist, his sucking up to Shi'ite Iran, and to Orthodox-Christian Russia, is mildly surprising. Still opportunism and 'Byzantine politics' go hand in hand, I suppose.

Rough days ahead in Turkey :(

Joe

Paul,

Typical Paul tactics of avoiding the issue. I was not talking about ancient history, rather today's clear and present racism by the greens.

Obviously you feel that the muslims are culturally inferior and not deserving of a free and democratic society, clearly you believe that Saddam Hussein Gaddafi, and Bashar al-Assad should have been allowed to murder and torture their citizens according to their culture.

Is there any point at which the greens will say enough is enough?