Anatomy of the coup against Erdogan and his response

Amidst sharp polarisation of the polity, strained civil-military relations, and growing terrorist attacks and authoritarianism in Turkey, a faction of the country's powerful armed forces staged an abortive coup on the night of July 2 to overthrow the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The attempt failed as President Erdogan quickly mobilised his supporters against the coup plotters. It was the biggest challenge to President Erdogan's 13 years uninterrupted rule in Turkey.

The coup was organised mainly by the gendarmerie and air force personnel. Reports suggest that several mid-ranking military officers are disenchanted with the Erdogan government's autocratic style of functioning and Islamist drives. The top brass of the Turkish military slammed the coup attempt and the chief of the armed forces along with two generals from navy were reportedly taken hostage by the coup plotters.

Role of military in Turkey's politics

The July 15 coup bid is to be viewed against the backdrop of the military's role in the country's politics. Turkey has been prone to coup since 1960. The country witnessed four coups – two of them resulted in a change of government without the military taking over. The armed forces, which considered itself as the ultimate protector of the principles of Kemal Ataturk – the founder of modern and secular Turkey – intervened in 1960, 1971, 1980 and 1997 to resolve political crises and restore stability. Turkey's Constitution has granted the country's strong armed forces a defined political role – the guardian of secularism.

During the last intervention, the Turkish military leadership presented a memorandum at a National Security Council meeting on February 28, 1997, pressurising the then Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan to follow the principles of Ataturk, including the secular nature of the state. This compelled the first Islamist premier to resign. His Welfare Party was subsequently dissolved.

The Turkish armed forces claimed on all the four occasions that they saved the nation from the brink of civil war and restored order in the polity. In Turkey, the military has always acted as the guardian of civil authority and political stability. They did not show any signs of clinging on to power for long and handed the government back to the politicians.

However, in the context of Turkey's lingering problems such as its confrontation with Greece over Cyprus, Aegean oil and other issues; the separatist ambitions of its own 8,000,000 Kurds in the southeastern region; and the growing footprints of international terror networks like Islamic State (IS) in the recent period, the armed forces have the potential of playing a greater role in the country's decision making process. The attempt to dislodge Erdogan on July 15 reflected a faction of the armed forces' disapproval of his concentration of power.

Tense civil-military relations under Erdogan

There are some similarities between the 1997 coup and the latest one. Erdogan's authoritarian style, Islamist policies and his skewed vision of Turkey's future have alienated many in the armed forces as well as civil society. To the international observers of the recent developments in the country, Erdogan's policies and actions are contrary to the vision of modern Turkey's architect Ataturk of maintaining a secular democratic state with checks and balances, rule of law, and recognition of the freedom of press and individual rights against the state.

During Erdogan's rule, the civil-military relations in Turkey have been uneasy. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has vowed to contain the military's influence in governance. In 2007, the then chief of the armed forces General Yasar Buyukanit resisted AKP's founder Abdullah Gul becoming president. The AKP and the Parliament did not pay attention to General Buyukanit's intervention and finally elected Gul.

Socio-political background of the coup

In addition to the simmering discontentment among the armed forces personnel, the domestic situation has been deteriorating fast over the last few years. The Erdogan government is increasingly becoming repressive in the face of popular protests and political instability in the country. Erdogan's aggressive approach towards defusing any serious political or popular opposition to his government has only sharpened the cleavage in the Turkish polity. His government has sanctioned additional powers to police and intelligence to check its opponents. In 2013, the police mercilessly suppressed mass protest demanding freedom.

Moreover, the AKP government has established its control over judiciary, media and educational institutions. In bids to silence its critics, the government has severely curtailed the freedom of press. It had undertaken several steps, virtually taking over newspapers, TV stations and media outlets. The country's intellectuals have been denied the right to articulate their opinion. In 2015, the Erdogan government accused university professors of treason for calling to restart peace process with the Kurds. The government threatened them to remove from their positions if they do not toe its line.

Erdogan also tried to reform Turkey's secular education system by making religious instruction mandatory. His government changed the management of schools and universities in manners that dilute the secular character of education. Turkey's state institutions and functionaries, including armed forces, judiciary and educational establishments have remained Kemalist and resisted the Erdogan government's efforts to desecularise them. Erdogan's penchant for consolidation of power has rendered the Turkish society fractious.

The growing terrorism and Kurdish insurgency

Turkey shares borders with Syria which have been plagued by intense civil war. It is estimated that more than 2.7 million refugees have taken shelter in Turkey after war broke out in neighbouring Syria. The presence of such a large number of refugees has created a volatile situation, endangering the country's security and stability. A series of terror attacks by the IS and Al-Qaeda-affiliated groups targeting key cities like Ankara and Istanbul during the last one year clearly manifested the government's security failures.

The government used the threats posed by the jihadi groups as a pretext to crackdown on the Kurdish political opposition. It launched a major offensive in the Kurdish region in the summer of 2015. Since then, the Turkish military has been engaged in intermittent armed clashes with the Kurdish rebels further complicating the security scenario.

Government blames Gulen for the coup

The Erdogan government has blamed 75 year-old Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen for the abortive coup. Gulen has been living in self-imposed exile in the United States for the past 15 years. He leads the popular Hizmet movement and his supporters say their group is totally peaceful; while the government calls it the "Fethullachi Terrorist Organisation" (FETO). Erdogan has accused Gulen and his followers of trying to topple his government for long. The Erdogan government says the FETO runs a "parallel state" in Turkey and urged the Obama Administration to extradite Gulen to face justice. Gulen, a former ally of Erdogan, denied any involvement in the coup and instead suggested that the incumbent president might have staged the coup himself to further strengthen his position.

Gulen is an influential Muslim cleric who has considerable following in the military, intelligence, police and judiciary. Reports indicate that the Gulen movement's presence in the state apparatus is well-entrenched and difficult to trace. The Kurdish political groups maintain that the Kemalists in the armed forces played a trick facilitating the Gulenists to stage the July 15 coup. They knew fully well that the attempt would not succeed and lead to much-awaited purging of the Gulenists in the military.

Massive crackdown on the coup plotters

The Erdogan government came down heavily on its detractors. In the sweeping purge that followed the abortive coup, nearly 50,000 people, including members of security forces and government employees had been detained, sacked or suspended from their posts. The entire investigation is led by Ankara-based prosecutors and those arrested are suspected to be linked to the Gulen movement. The authorities also arrested 2,745 judges and prosecutors across Turkey.

Reports say the Turkish authorities apprehended about 6000 armed forces personnel, including 125 generals and admirals for their alleged involvement in the putsch. The government detained senior officers like Erdal Ozturk, commander of the Third Army and commander of the Malatya-based Second Army, Adem Huduti. Besides, the authorities arrested the commander of the garrison in the western town of Denizli, Ozhan Ozbakir along with Air Force Brigadier General Bekir Erkan posted at Incirlik air force base which has been used by the US forces for air strikes against the IS militants in Syria. Among the arrested also included Akin Ozturk, the former chief of Air Staff.

Furthermore, the government suspended 8,000 police officers for their alleged links to the coup plotters. Reports suggest that 30 regional governors and over 50 high-ranking civil servants were dismissed from service. More than 15,000 teachers and non-teaching staff have been sacked and 1,577 university deans ordered to resign. The government has also revoked the licenses of 24 radio and television channels.

While such crackdown continued, the government imposed a state of emergency for three months to strengthen power to arrest the persons suspected to be involved in the putsch that left about 300 people, including 100 coup plotters dead. The government said the emergency was needed to stamp out the "terrorists" linked to the US-based Muslim preacher Gulen and added that democracy would not be compromised.

International concerns over the widening purge and Turkey's future

The massive crackdown launched by the Erdogan government against the coup plotters and their supporters has raised international concerns. Many Western nations, including Turkey's ally US strongly condemned the abortive coup but also called upon the Erdogan government to uphold democratic practices. World leaders cautioned Erdogan not to use the coup attempt as excuse for crackdown on political opponents and disregard rule of law. The concerns expressed by the international community assume significance as Erdogan's critics say he could make use of the coup bid as leverage to effect a constitutional change which would tighten his grip over power.

The widening purge in the aftermath of the coup amply demonstrated the Erdogan regime's agenda of establishing complete dominance over the Turkish polity. Erdogan himself noted that the coup attempt was a "God-gifted" opportunity to cleanse the "virus" afflicting the country. However, the increasing autocratic tendencies of the Erdogan government do not bode well for the future of democracy in Turkey. The country may face more trouble in the coming days if the Erdogan government continues to run the country in an authoritarian manner. Some believe that Erdogan's ruthless crackdown on the state functionaries and political opponents may vindicate the stand of the coup plotters who claimed they had been forced to act to save democracy and restore Kemalist principles.