Was Erdoğan Behind It, If What Happened In Turkey Was Indeed A 'Fake Coup'?

Exactly a year ago, the Turkish government announced a State of Emergency in the wake of a coup attempt, an act of limited mutiny — 1.5 % of the Turkish Armed Forces had participated in the uprising — which was the breaking point for a massive purge and arrests that continue to this day. 

Despite the fact that more than 365 days have passed, what happened during the night of July 15 2016 in Turkey remains a dense mystery. Erdoğan was quick to engage and convince an intense propaganda machine, which even involved pundits from the secular flank of the media, that the sole culprit was obvious: Fethullah Gülen, a cleric with a large following, based in Pennsylvania, USA, was fully responsible for orchestrating the coup. But very few, if any, in the outside world feel convinced by claims that to this day remain unsubstantiated. 

In Turkey, the main opposition, CHP, and the pro-Kurdish party, HDP, insist that it was a 'controlled coup' to serve Erdoğan's personal plan to cement an autocratic rule.

Key questions remain to be addressed. To this day, main components of the coup choreography remain wrapped in mystery.

Members of the Turkish General Staff representing major branches of the Turkish armed forces were detained. Was their arrest part of the coup design or was it intended to prevent them from joining the ranks of mutineers? Why did the coup plotters fail to take over major private networks that most Turks actually watch? And why did the coup plotters allow social media to function? They could have jammed coverage, but didn’t. It is ironic that Erdogan addressed the nation using FaceTime, a form of social media he vowed to eliminate.

In this well-researched piece, David L Phillips, Director at Columbia University’s Institute for the Study of Human Rights and the author of the book An Uncertain Ally: Turkey Under Erdogan’s Dictatorship, lays out some powerful points, and argues that the truth will come out the day Erdoğan leaves power.