Turkey . Attempted Military Coup under way.

[DulwichFox]

Breaking news of a Military Coup in Turkey...

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said a military coup attempt is currently underway and that military action has been taken without a chain of command, according to local media NTV.

Yildirim reportedly said that the actions are only being taken by part of the military, adding that security forces are doing what is necessary to resolve the situation.

NTV also showed footage at tanks at the entrance of Istanbul's Ataturk airport.

This could be very serious...

http://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/turkey/1.731225

DulwichFox

[JoeLeg]

Wish I could say I was surprised.

Really hope that this gets resolved with widespread bloodshed (I think hoping for no bloodshed is unrealistic).

[Gaynor Hill]

This has happenedmany times in Turkey never been stable place and they want to join Europe

[miga]

Unlike the rest of Europe, which has always been stable....

[Earl Aelfheah]

Turkey is not going to join the EU anytime soon, for exactly this (and many other) reasons. Don't believe everything Give and Boris tell you.

[rendelharris]

This posted by a friend of a friend on Facebook:

'So, my special friend in Istanbul says this, despairingly: "Most probably a real coup attempt, which was vaguely known beforehand, and was allowed to proceed, because they knew it to be disorganised and weak. This means it will be followed by a real coup by Erdoğan himself, and the last remnants of democracy will be lost. So worse becomes the worst. The Kurdish movement and all of us in the opposition will be targeted in the coming days. A civilian brown-shirt movement is already in the making, and this will rule the streets once the so-called coup is defeated in a couple of days."'

[Earl Aelfheah]

Depressing.

[Loz]

From an article in the Guardian...

On the Bosphorus bridge, there were scenes of delirium. Demonstrators boarded an abandoned army truck, waving Turkish flags and chanting against the coup. Cars and mopeds drove past, honking their horns in victory. ?The English would never be able to do this, but we did,? one woman screamed at a pair of foreigners. ?We?re Turkish.?

So, after Brexit, England is now seen as the new "Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkeys" of Europe.

[malumbu]

It's a basket cast with great strategic importance - water reserves, bordering countries, secular, questionable human rights, etc etc. Many of us consider that it is a wonderful place to visit. Amazing history not helped by being on the wrong side in the Great War.

Discussions about joining the EU from my fairly priviledged take were - do we want it to be in, so we can get them to reform whilst getting the sort of deals that is good for European and world stability or get them to sort their act out first. Proper debate. The Brexit posters and those of you who believe and quote this is just horrid xenophobia and racism.

Forget the small Polski Sleps and delis, every independent super and mini market from South side of Westminster Bridge all the way to Forest Hill Road is probably Turkish run. And we like shopping their too. Embrace it.

[miga]

It was a bastion of sanity and secularism surrounded by dictatorships and religious lunatics. The army would occasionally crush extremists to preserve Ataturk"s vision. Not this time.

[uncleglen]

https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/europe-and-central-asia/turkey/report-turkey/

[Gaynor Hill]

No Turkey will never be part of Euro Merkel and the rest just keepsaying to them they might but that's just so they help with the migration crisis they got enough money from everyone

There will never be peace in the middle East not since the start of the Ottoman empire started it all

[malumbu]

????

So it is all the Turks fault then????

[miga]

Actually, a lot of the modern trouble in the Middle East starts with the weakening and loss of the Ottoman Empire, and subsequent on-again off-again meddling by the Western Powers after WWI. As far as the Ottoman Empire starting it all here are things you can Wiki in reverse chronological order: Crusades, Byzantine-Arab wars, Arab siege of Constantinople, Roman-Persian Wars...

[rendelharris]

rendelharris Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> This posted by a friend of a friend on Facebook:

>

> 'So, my special friend in Istanbul says this,

> despairingly: "Most probably a real coup attempt,

> which was vaguely known beforehand, and was

> allowed to proceed, because they knew it to be

> disorganised and weak. This means it will be

> followed by a real coup by Erdoğan himself,

> and the last remnants of democracy will be lost.

> So worse becomes the worst. The Kurdish movement

> and all of us in the opposition will be targeted

> in the coming days. A civilian brown-shirt

> movement is already in the making, and this will

> rule the streets once the so-called coup is

> defeated in a couple of days."'

The EU are now saying that a hitlist of the 3,000 judges who've been arrested was drawn up prior to the coup, so it looks more and more and more like a setup.

[????]

miga Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Actually, a lot of the modern trouble in the

> Middle East starts with the weakening and loss of

> the Ottoman Empire, and subsequent on-again

> off-again meddling by the Western Powers after

> WWI. As far as the Ottoman Empire starting it all

> here are things you can Wiki in reverse

> chronological order: Crusades, Byzantine-Arab

> wars, Arab siege of Constantinople, Roman-Persian

> Wars...

Nah,the real problems stem from when Ghengis Khan/the mongols obliterated the empires of the Middle East/Persia and left a vacuum. "too early to say" as Mao once said :)

[miga]

That too. Though given the Ottomans' Central Asian origins and Genghis Khan's status as a Turkish national hero, you could argue it was a prelude to an unusual period of stability.