Friday, July 15, 2016

Military Coup in Turkey

Multiple sites are reporting an attempted military coup in Turkey, apparently with the aim of deposing the Erdogan government and returning to Kemalist principles. It is unclear at this moment whether the coup will succeed.

Normally we don't favor military takeovers of governments. Turkey could possibly be an exception. Broadly representative government was already essentially dead in Turkey. Depending on what happens, this could turn out to be a good or a bad thing.

As regular readers know, the slow decay of democracy in Turkey has been a story we've followed. Updates later as developments occur.