Fifth column: Revisiting the Turkish coup

The day of July 16 will remain one of the most important and inspiring dates in the modern Turkish history – perhaps as important as      October 29, the republic day of modern Turkey.

On this day last year, the Turkish people faced rogue soldiers who were attacking every icon of the government and the public trust that these symbols represented. The coupists attacked radio and television stations, the Turkish parliament, the Presidential Palace, police academies, telecommunications offices as well as people on the streets to strike terror and force people into submission. Around 249 people were killed and thousands of others were injured. The number of fatalities made it the most bloodied coup in the Turkish history – albeit a failed one.

When the Presidential Palace and parliament – the most potent symbols of the public will – were being bombed in Ankara, there was a studied silence across Europe and the US. For several hours into the coup, Turkey’s Western allies waited for things to pan out before they could form an official reaction. This fuelled concerns that they wanted the democratically-elected government to fall.

The coup failed following a clarion call from Turkish President Recep Tayyib Erdogan to his people to fight it out in the streets. The people responded by coming out with open defiance and swarming the putschists on the ground, thereby deflating their misplaced optimism and morale.

Erdogan led from the front as he arrived in Istanbul despite grave threats to his life. This swelled the crowds and their optimism, crumbling the coup efforts and isolating the erring soldiers until they were left with no option but to submit to the will of the people.

Western statements of support for democracy came only when it became clear that Erdogan would survive. These statements were glaringly delayed, appeared unconvincing and also sounded pretty reluctant. This led to a strong belief that it was the Western governments who had supported the coup as Erdogan was increasingly seen as belligerent to their never-ending demands and was charting a different convention for a Turkey that demanded to be heard on an equal footing as matters in Europe and beyond.

The Euro-American corporate media was quick to offer moral support and tactical advice to the putschists and even began spreading fake news and rumours directed at undermining the spirit of the people’s resistance. CNN fielded several ‘former’ spooks to offer their ‘opinions’ as people were being killed on the streets. They seemed disappointed at the prospects of the coup. A veteran CIA officer Robert Baer lamented on air that the “Turkish coup was not professionally done”.

Baer, who claimed to have been involved in coups apparently on behalf of the CIA, offered advice to the failing junta while revealing “he had discussed the possibility of a coup with Turkish military officers in the past few months”.

In the initial hours of the coup, Fox News was full of optimism, stating that “if the coup succeeds, Islamists lose and we win”, only to be replaced by the grim analysis next day that claimed “Turkey’s last hope dies” as it became apparent the putschists had been beaten.

In the heat of the moment, when public support for democracy was crucial, MSNBC, a mainstream American news outlet, quoting “senior US military sources”, tweeted that Erdogan was refused landing rights in Istanbul and was seeking asylum in Germany. Michael Rubin, a former Pentagon official and an adviser to former US president George Bush, in his piece for the New York Post, claimed “the coup in Turkey could mean hope”.

The British media alluded to the anti-democracy sentiments and feelings. The Economist, in its early reporting, nurtured hope that the coup attempt could be successful. Interestingly, the left-leaning Guardian also waded in support of the coupists. It offered a skewed justification for the military action by claiming that “Turkey was already undergoing a slow-motion coup – by Erdogan, not the army”.

BBC, the British government-funded media house that is officially designated to support the foreign policy objectives of its government, carried an article on its website with a screeching headline: ‘Recep Tayyip Erdogan: Turkey’s ruthless president’. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, a leading German daily was quite crafty and characterised Erdogan’s fightback against the coup plotters as a “civilian coup”.

Prior to the coup, there had been a growing campaign against President Erdogan, supported by the Western corporate media, to portray him as increasingly authoritarian, dictatorial and defiant and, therefore, unreliable. Despite his avowed belief in secularism – that even irked the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt when Erdogan rushed to counsel them against adopting an Islamist constitution – Erdogan was portrayed as an Islamist, playing to the Western fears of Islam amid growing Islamophobia. Months before the actual coup, Newsweek published a lead article in March 2016 calling for a coup in Turkey. The article was retweeted during the coup attempt as a justification to the macabre drama that was unfolding on the streets of Ankara and Istanbul.

The attempted coup exposed the Western faultlines, creating a gulf between Turkey and them. The development is unfortunate given that we need a better understanding among different cultures and worldviews at a time when extremism – whether religious or national – is increasing across continents. With the new US administration, there seems to be some understanding of the Turkish concerns and the rapprochement between the sides. But the main challenge remains.

The Turks see the US refusal to extradite Fethullah Gulen as the consistent undermining of their sentiments that goes against the spirit of friendship. The Turkish government has consistently accused Gulen of being the main instigator of the coup and have arrested several of his followers within the army and civilian bureaucracy for their role in the coup.

In comparison, any understanding between Europe and Turkey seems farfetched as the European capitals continue to disregard the struggles of the Turkish democracy and its memory. As Turkey celebrates its first anniversary against the failed coup, several European capitals have disallowed official public events to commemorate the heroism and commitment of the Turkish people. In addition, just as Turkey was about to start the coup commemoration, the EU froze the accession talks with Turkey. This is certainly an affront to the people of Turkey – a deliberate one to undermine any hopes for future reconciliation.

Twitter: @murtaza_shibli