What Caused the Turkish Coup Attempt
Gulen has lived in exile in Pennsylvania since 1999, and the Turkish government is now accusing Washington of sheltering him—which provides the government with an opportunity to deflect attention away from its own actions.
.. The president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is devoted to a view that emphasizes the right of majority rule over concepts of shared control by institutions within a constitutional system. His views are similar but not identical with the Muslim Brotherhood theory of government which does not recognize freedom of press, individual rights against the state, the separation of powers or a clear division between state and religion.
.. —The government accelerated moves in recent years to take over newspapers, TV stations and media outlets, resulting in almost total control of the media by the government;
—In the summer of 2013, the government forcibly repressed peaceful demonstrations nationwide against perceived government authoritarianism;
.. —Changes in Turkey’s educational system have introduced compulsory religious instruction and altered the governance of schools and universities in ways that weaken the secular nature of education.
.. In 1999, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a young politician with religious convictions and regarded as a successful mayor of Istanbul, one of the world’s largest cities, went to jail. He had publicly proclaimed an inflammatory reference to a Turkish poem: “The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets and the faithful our soldiers…”
.. In 2001, the Turkish economy imploded with the Turkish currency losing half its value within a few months. Thus, after a decade of bumbling misrule by secular parties, in 2002 the Turkish people, in essence realizing there was no other option, put Erdogan’s party in power with a powerful win.
.. Turkey, rigorously implemented economic reforms that slashed rampant inflation and launched new efforts to join the EU. It did what no previous government had been able to do for decades. Turkey’s GNP tripled within a few years.
.. In succeeding years, he converted the educational system into a religious friendly institution, altered the court system to his advantage, purged the police and judiciary, and with widespread show trials decapitated the Kemalist structure in the army. Extending that momentum, his party moved to dominate the press in Turkey.