The Erdoğan-Did-It Conspiracy


Date posted: July 29, 2016

Michael Rubin

I asked people who firmly believe that the coup was not what it appeared to explain why they cannot take the notion that what occurred on Friday was a genuine military coup seeking to oust the president. Here is what they said:

  • The military would never start a coup at 10 pm on a Friday. In 1980, the coup began on a Sunday at five in the morning.
  • The military—if it had been a true coup—would have immediately shut down airspace, borders, the internet, and all media outlets.
  • The first move would have been to go after the leaders, not to block bridges in Istanbul when it was known that the president was in Marmaris.
  • The military would have informed allied commands and NATO as soon as the operation was underway.
  • To arrest hundreds if not thousands of officers and judges would have required putting together a list and, again given past precedent, that would have taken at least two days.
  • The notion that the president could get on CNN-Türk through FaceTime without prior coordination, and then have other channels on air soon after would have required pre-arrangement.

Another liberal wrote how:

  • “I just received a SMS calling on all citizens to join forces of the defense of iron will and occupy all streets and squares.” Such mobilizing emails and instructions usually take prior coordination. When Erdoğan had his supposedly spontaneous temper tantrum at Davos several years back, text messages went out in advance to supporters too rally at the airport, the metro hours had been extended in advance for that day only, and thousands of Palestinian flags suddenly materialized at 3 am.

Personally, I’m not sure I believe the conspiracy, a variant of which we sometimes hear with regard to Iran: “Iran couldn’t have been behind the plot to kill the Saudi ambassador in Washington because the Quds Force would never be that inept.” Sometimes, people are simply incompetent, or operations dod not go according to plan.

If there is any truth to the conspiracy, then not only is Erdoğan mad, but U.S. intelligence and Turkey-based diplomats are out of their depth.

Regardless, one thing is clear: the aftermath of this weekend’s events. As another Turk wrote:

This event gives Erdoğan reason to suppress all the opposition including civic leaders, journalists, officers, professors, government employees and all. Already, the government is calling on all the people to protest it in the streets. It is implicitly encouraging the jihadists, including Islamic State sympathizers to go out, raid the homes of secular people, beat them and kill them. Now that an atmosphere of terror has been created, I do not want to predict what will happen next.

And, as my first interlocutor quoted above observed:

It is 3 am now and all his [Erdoğan’s] people are on the streets intimidating the rest of the nation. These people are all men, with beards and strange hair—looking very un-Turkish. [They] have knives in their hands for intimidation purposes. (Yesterday, these people cut the head of a soldier on the Bosphorus bridge in Istanbul). Thus the target is clear: They are taking over the nation with all of its institutions.

Source: Commentary , July 29, 2016


Related News

Victims of Turkey’s purge exploited also by lawyers with exorbitantly high fees

Victims of Turkey’s post-coup purge have been taking another toll from lawyers who ask outrageously high prices either to keep themselves out of trouble or to exploit from the lost causes. In Turkey, the presumption of innocence has been dramatically reversed and now everybody is assumed guilty until they prove their innocence.

Laughter-guaranteed terrorist organization indictment

With exaggerated details, they explain that they will sell the bottle of “miraculous” liquid they produce from their bags only for TL 100. After a brief bargaining, they put the bottle in your hands only for TL 5. When you get home, you understand that it was nothing but tap water mixed with essence and you get enraged.

Pakistan: Islamabad High Court rejects petition by Erdogan’s Maarif Foundation

The Islamabad High Court, while rejecting the petition filed by Turkey’s Maarif Foundation, decreed that there was no meaning in the foundation’s demand for inclusion in the case as it was out of the question for such foreign structures to find in themselves any right to take over the [Pak-Turk] schools in Pakistan.

Turkish charities ready to deliver aid during Eid al-Adha

Various Turkish charity organizations have wrapped up their preparations to deliver aid, including sacrificial meat and other forms of assistance, to people in need across Turkey and around the world during Eid al-Adha, an Islamic holiday celebrated by millions around the globe. Turkish charities are especially busy during the Eid al-Adha season, collecting money and sacrificing animals, packaging the meat and distributing it to the less fortunate.

Turkey’s Kurdish question and the Hizmet movement

This is the title of a new report authored by Dr. Mustafa Gurbuz and published on the website of the US-based think tank Rethink Institute

Helping hands to Kosova

Turkey extended a helping hand to Kosova, the ninth poorest country of the world, through Kimse Yok Mu Relief Foundation. Responding to cries of the orphans in the country, which gained independence in 2008, Kimse Yok Mu Relief Foundation distributed a variety of supplies ranging from sewing machines to goreceries, stationeries to toys. Aids have been distributed to those who became widows and orphans for the sake of their country’s independence. Among volunteers, there were Mujgan Koralturk, who plays Dilan character in the famous series ‘Tek Turkiye’, and Aslihan Erkisi, a famous vocal artist.

Latest News

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

In Case You Missed It

Turkish doctors leave country to volunteer at Uganda’s Nile hospital

Better late than never: Gülen’s Kurdish education initiative

FM Davutoğlu annuls decree ordering Turkish embassies to support Gülen Movement: Reports

Governmental Robbery – Armenian Deportation

Remarks by Congressman Randy Weber (Representing Texas) at IFLC Washington DC

Erdoğan gov’t abusing regulatory agencies to punish opponents

Turkish schools abroad: a global phenomenon

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News