Reactions to the failed coup in Turkey
July 18th, 2016Commentators are convinced that after foiling the coup, President Erdogan will consolidate his rule still further. At the same time they dismiss conspiracy theories about him being the real mastermind behind the attempted takeover.
On Origo, András Kovács quotes analyst Edit Zgut who calls Turkey a non-accomplished democracy and is convinced that the reprisals launched after the coup will further strengthen the president’s grip on power. She believes, however, that further restrictions of democratic rights will make Turkey’s accession to the European Union even less plausible than it has been so far.
Blikk’s columnist, who writes under the penname of Lajos Csapos (meaning bar tender), who invites his readers onto his Facebook page to discuss events just like people would do in their pubs, suggests that European leaders are not entirely sincere in their declarations of support to Erdogan. Real democrats, he explains, can only support the President of Turkey ‘while holding their noses’. But Juncker and the rest of the European leaders will not be in a position to defend Mr Erdogan if the people of Turkey change their minds one day.
On 444, Miklós Kasnyik warns against what he sees as simplistic explanations which claim that the coup was organised by Mr Erdogan himself in order to be able to purge the army and the judiciary. In a period of economic stagnation and instability because of the war against the Kurds and the recurrent Islamist suicide bombings, the last thing Mr Erdogan wanted was further destabilisation and scenes of armed conflicts in Turkey’s two main cities.
In Népszabadság, Gábor Miklós remarks that the coup was foiled by Turkish civilians who invaded the streets and disarmed the soldiers who recoiled from shooting at civilians. In order to mobilise themselves, the civilians used Facebook and other social networks – the same networks which demonstrators used in their protests against government policies. Dictators, however, are not prone to gratitude, Miklós writes, and predicts that neither democrats nor social websites will flourish under Mr Erdogan’s rule.