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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
You have to give Ataturk credit. There aren't a lot of secular rulers who have cast as long a shadow as he has.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
as god as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.
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.
Oh come on, that was the best value coup pun I've seen in years.
You have to give Ataturk credit. There aren't a lot of secular rulers who have cast as long a shadow as he has.
He had some lucky breaks. When he was a young colonel, his passion for reform made some enemies ... so he was exiled to a remote outpost of no significance called "Gallipoli". In the Spring of 1915, when the Allied forces went ashore there, commanded by some of the most incompetent generals in history, they were facing a Turkish commander at the top of the cliffs, who was one of the best.
In a British poll, he was rated as one of the greatest foes of the British Empire, along with George Washington, Napoleon, and Rommel.
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.