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Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube Blocked In Turkey During Reported Coup Attempt (techcrunch.com)
An anonymous reader writes: In response to an attempted military coup, the Turkish government has reportedly blocked social media sites including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. TechCrunch reports: "Turkey Blocks, a Twitter account that regularly checks if sites are being blocked in the country, reported at 1:04 PM Pacific (11:04 PM Istanbul time) that Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube were all unresponsive, though Instagram and Vimeo remained available." Some Turkish users were able to update their social media accounts likely through a VPN or other anonymizing service. One user posted a video on Twitter that shows what appears to be a fighter jet flying very low over the Turkish capital of Ankara; another user has tweeted a video of a helicopter opening fire in Turkey. The Associated Press reports that Turkish prime minister, Binali Yildirim, has confirmed the coup by a group within Turkey's military. The following statement from the group was reportedly read on local television: "Turkish Armed Forces have completely taken over the administration of the country to reinstate constitutional order, human rights and freedoms, the rule of law and the general security that was damaged. All international agreements are still valid. We hope that all of our good relationships with all countries will continue."
UPDATE 7/15/16: Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has issued a statement in a FaceTime call to CNN Turk urging Turkish citizens to take to the streets to defend "Turkish democracy." He urges the Turkish people to convene at public squares and airports, saying there is no power higher than the power of the people.
UPDATE 7/15/16: Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has issued a statement in a FaceTime call to CNN Turk urging Turkish citizens to take to the streets to defend "Turkish democracy." He urges the Turkish people to convene at public squares and airports, saying there is no power higher than the power of the people.
It's not the first time this happens. And it is (hopefully) not the sort of military coup as seen in other nations: a military coup seems like a scary and odd thing to have in a democracy, but the Turkish army has been charged since the days of Atatürk with the protection of the secular nature of the state. If a leader or party is too openly religious or attempting to change the constitution in their favour (and dear god does Erdogan ever fit that bill), they step in. And hopefully restore order and democracy presently.
Erdogan made no secret of his designs. From the man himself: "Democracy is like a train: when you reach your destination, you get off". And: "The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets and the faithful our soldiers"
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
Not normally a fan of military coups, but Erdogan was a frickin' menace and had it coming. The Turkish military has always done a better job running that country then the politicians the Turks elect for themselves.
the growth in cynicism and rebellion has not been without cause
Recep Tayyip Erdoan has tried destroying the constitution and the spirit of ataturk's secular state of Turkey. This is a benevolent coup to restore the normal order of turkey, and has happened many times when dictators try to take the country a different way.
This is different because Erdogan had already pushed through quite a few reforms and had, by all accounts, removed much of the old guard of Generals and replaced them with loyalists. If this coup is widespread, it means either some of the Generals aren't as loyal to Erdogan as he thought, or that they've been removed from the equation. This is beginning to sound less like a classic revolt of the Turkish Generals, and more like a revolt of the Turkish Colonels, more of an almost Latin American style coup.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
In this case, it looks like they waited until Erdogan was outside the country on holiday.
Mind you, an alternative explanation is that Erdogan saw this coming and hightailed it before they could get a hold of him.
The difference between the two explanations is whether his suitcases are packed with swimming trunks or bars of gold.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
The fact that this junta seems to be talking about forming a Peace Council to protect Turkish citizens' rights regardless of race or religion suggests that, oddities aside, this is a coup more in the classic Turkish tradition. In other words, Erdogan ultimately was unable to get rid of all the Ataturk secularists in the army, and his own Generals ultimately failed to overawe those further down the ranks.
I've also just read that Erdogan has tried to address the nation via some sort of online service (there's a picture of someone watching his address via iPhone, and it looks like he's standing in front of hotel curtains), and that he had tried to land in Istanbul but had been refused. This would suggest he's probably holed up somewhere in Europe. With AKP's headquarters now under military control, the state broadcaster shut down, and Erdogan blocked from re-entering the country, the claim that is Gulenists is likely false. This is far too big, and sounds like it involves far too much of the military to be blamed on what really is at best a fringe movement.
It might not be the Generals staging the coup, the ghost of Ataturk has taken out another Turkish government.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
One major factor might be that the "Ergenekon" network people were released in April. These are the people that Erdogan imprisoned on charges of conspiring to remove him from power but there was no evidence the plot even existed. The plot may not have existed, but he gave a hell of an incentive to create one.
as god as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.
I doubt many on /. these days are old enough to remember WKRP, let alone remember that episode. But I got a good laugh out of it.
The military there have done this sort of thing before, and they are or at least were very staunch defenders of Ataturk's vision for a secular Turkey. Erdogan, by contrast, is a tin pot dictator who totally had it coming. In his own words, "Democracy is like a train: when you reach your destination, you get off." His destination is that of an islamic Turkey. He has said so often enough, you can see it in his policies, there is no doubt about it.
Well, he just got thrown off the train for making a right mess of things, and good riddance. I sincerely hope so, at any rate.
It hopefully opens the door, to, say, Turkey supporting the Kurds fighting IS, who're so far the only effective ones, and could do without Turkey bombing them in turn. We too needed that to stop, so this is a step in the right direction. We, the European people, also very much need Turkey to be secular, that with the eurocrats bent on getting Turkey to join up in all but a name. (Well, not entirely: Erdogan was blackmailing them with his supposed power to stop the refugee flood for easy access to the EU for his muslim hordes, and they let themselves be hauled over the barrel. But that's another story.)
Anyway, for now I cautiously see this as a positive development. But of course the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Let's see what they do next.