The 2016 Military Coup Attempt In Turkey And Its Results

Abstract

The militaries played an important role in Turkish politics. In particular, they actively interfered in the political life of Turkey. The reason for this was that they appeared as the most active defenders of the idea of Kemalism. It is true that the Republic of Turkey is a secular country, but the vast majority of its population is Muslim. Hence, very soon after the death of Mustafa Kemal in, Muslim political parties came to the fore in Turkish politics, trying more and more to establish themselves in the politics of the country and, consequently, to limit secularism. The Turkish military could not tolerate the attempts of Muslim parties to seize power. As faithful defenders of the Kemalist ideology, they often overthrew such governments. A similar case occurred 4 times in Turkey in the last century.

Turkey’s present ruling party “Justice and Development Party” (AKP) is a follower of moderate Islamist. Therefore, the leader of the party, the current President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, tried to restrict the militaries yet in 2011, which he fulfilled partially.

In 2016, in the latest military coup attempt in Turkey, the Turkish militaries failed. One of the reasons for this is thought as if the Turkish president knew about the attempted of the military coup in advance and he needed it to limit the Turkish militaries. Very soon after this military coup attempt, many high-ranked military officials (including doctors, teachers, and the U.S.) were arrested or fired form their working places. After that, the coup attempt by the Turkish military was almost neutralized and in this way the “threat” to Erdogan’s government was removed.