Astonishing questions about the failed coup attempt in Turkey


Date posted: July 23, 2016

Many people watching the stunning events in Turkey believe that the coup attempt was nothing but a pure ‘theater.’

The leader of the coup was a pro-Erdogan General Mehmet Disli, brother of AKP deputy Saban Disli, who defines himself as Erdogan’s confidante.

The poorly-planned coup attempt has started with the capture of Istanbul’s Bosporus Bridge. Only one-way traffic was blocked. The other, was wide open.

Unlike all other military coups in Turkish history, this attempt was initiated at 10 pm when all the country was still awake. Why?

Why did the coup-plotters not attempt to silence the pro-government media and instead took over the least-watched state TV broadcaster, TRT, allowing their targets to regroup and use more popular channels?

Why did they not cut off the Internet connection and let the current government to use social media effectively to challenge the coup attempt?

Often-blocked Internet communication was permitted this time

Why was no single politician, including the president and the prime minister were taken into custody? Why did the coup plotters not even to capture any politicians?

President Erdogan was neither in Ankara nor Istanbul but instead spending his vacation in the Mediterranean seaside. Why did the coup plotters not move to detain him while he was there?

In fact, 25 soldiers in helicopters descended on a hotel in Marmaris on ropes, shooting, just after Erdogan had left in an apparent attempt to seize him. Why did they wait for two hours to go after him?

Erdogan could safely fly from Marmaris to Istanbul over an hour, while rebel F-16 planes were patrolling the skies and flying low over cities.

Calling the coup attempt on his regime a “gift from the God” President Erdogan has already dismissed more than 60,000 civil servants, 6,000 judges and military officers, 1577 faculty deans from universities.

Critics claim that this failed coup attempt was simply a pretext to legitimize arbitrary authoritarian practices, eliminate all the dissent while filling the state apparatus with staunch supporters, and start an ethnic cleansing against sympathizers of the Gulen movement and Alawites.


Related News

Dangerous and unnecessary tension

MARKAR ESAYAN Turkey has been experiencing heated tension over the prep school issue for a while. And unfortunately, the discussion was taken out of the educational context and has become a political issue. The Taraf daily, in its recent reports and with the official documents it published, argued that the Justice and Development Party (AK […]

Today’s Zaman praised for quality coverage on 6th anniversary

AYDIN ALBAYRAK/ALI ASLAN KILIÇ/SİNEM CENGİZ ANKARA On the occasion of the sixth anniversary of Today’s Zaman, senior leaders of the governing and opposition parties as well as Ankara-based foreign diplomats expressed their appreciation for the daily as an important source of information on Turkey. They described Today’s Zaman, the largest-circulated English daily in Turkey, as […]

Statement of Senator Patrick Leahy On Assault on Press Freedom in Turkey Senate Floor

Mr. President, I have spoken many times on the Senate floor in defense of press freedom because it is a fundamental cornerstone of a democratic society. Today I want to briefly draw the Senate’s attention to the situation in Turkey, one of the many countries in the world where this basic right is under threat by officials in the government who seek to silence their critics.

Jews should speak up for Hizmet

When we think of Hizmet, Jews conscious of our own history either can say, “There but for the grace of God go we,” or we can think of Rabbi Hillel: “If we are only for ourselves, what are we? And if now, when?” 

Row between Turkish government and Gulen Movement takes new twist

The row between Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and Fethullah Gulen’s Hizmet Movement, one of the most influential religious communities in the country, has taken an interesting twist after the revelation of a 2004 document. In 2004, the National Security Council proposed a clampdown on the Gulen movement (aka Hizmet), which suggested that harsh sanctions should be enforced on them.

Turkish schools behind Turkey’s soft power in Middle East

2 May 2012 / MİNHAC ÇELİK, İSTANBUL Marco Padovan, Italian businessman and a member of the Turkish-Italian Trade and Cooperation Association, said during a round table meeting held in İstanbul on Wednesday that Turkish schools play a crucial role in the increase of Turkey’s soft power in the Middle East and North Africa. Speaking during […]

Latest News

Turkish inmate jailed over alleged Gülen links dies of heart attack in prison

Message of Condemnation and Condolences for Mass Shooting at Bondi Beach, Sydney

Media executive Hidayet Karaca marks 11th year in prison over alleged links to Gülen movement

ECtHR faults Turkey for convictions of 2,420 applicants over Gülen links in follow-up to 2023 judgment

New Book Exposes Erdoğan’s “Civil Death Project” Targeting the Hizmet Movement

European Human Rights Treaty Faces Legal And Political Tests

ECtHR rejects Turkey’s appeal, clearing path for retrials in Gülen-linked cases

Erdoğan’s Civil Death Project’ : The ‘politicide’ spanning more than a decade

Fethullah Gülen’s Vision and the Purpose of Hizmet

In Case You Missed It

Learnium International: A school with a difference in Sri Lanka

Pak-Turk schools replace Turkish principals with Pakistanis

Prominent theologian says Turkey in crisis with international community

Turkish School strengthens ties with Turkmenistan

BBC Interviews Fethullah Gulen (Powerful but reclusive Turkish cleric)

Documents expose plot to hold Hizmet responsible for KPSS cheating

Who stalls the reforms [in Turkey]?

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News