Word among top international foreign policy experts and also Turkish local political pundits is that the President Erdogan may have staged a coup in order to solidify his ruthless regime and also gain more ground in dealing with his NATO allies mainly USA and European union.
With the scare of the coup the president can now move and clense the Army off all alleged renegades based sectarian and links with opposition groups- a local pundit told foreign media from Istanbul.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s AK Party enjoys a fierce and loyal support among Turkey’s conservative, Muslim base, while outside the country outrage grows over his silencing of critics, often by force.
Turkish journalists have been investigated and put on trial, foreign journalists have been harassed and deported. Last month, police raided Turkey’s biggest newspaper, Zaman. Its staff emerged bloodied and cowed.
Zaman’s last independent edition said Turkey’s press had seen one of its “darkest days”. Its first edition under state control carried unabashedly pro-government articles.
And Mr Erdogan’s authoritarian approach is not confined to Turkey’s borders. His bodyguards harassed reporters in the US, and a German satirist is under investigation in his home country for offending the Turkish president on TV.
Mr Erdogan, 61, came to power in 2002, a year after the formation of the AK Party. He spent 11 years as Turkey’s prime minister before becoming the country’s first directly-elected president in August 2014 – a supposedly ceremonial role.
In June 2015 the AK Party suffered a dip in the polls and failed to form a coalition. But a snap election in November, after Turkey’s worst suicide bombing prompted Mr Erdogan to escalate his war against the PKK, gave the party a convincing majority.
