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WikiLeaks Releases 300K Turkey Government Emails In Response To Erdogan's Post-Coup Purges (rt.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from RT: Despite a massive cyberattack on its website, WikiLeaks has published the first batch of nearly 300,000 emails from the Turkish ruling AKP party's internal server and thousands of attached files in response to the Ankara government's widespread post-coup purges. Some 294,548 emails pertaining to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) were made public on Tuesday at 11:00pm Ankara time. WikiLeaks says that the release of almost 300,000 email bodies together with several thousand attached files, is just part one in the series and encompasses 762 mailboxes beginning with 'A' through to 'I.' All emails are attributed to "akparti.org.tr," the primary domain of the main political force in the country, and cover a period from 2010 up until July 6, 2016, just a week before the failed military coup. The NGO also revealed that one of the emails contained an Excel database of the cell phone numbers of AKP deputies. Prior to the release WikiLeaks suffered a "sustained attack" as it warned that Turkish government entities might try to interfere with the publication of the AKP material. The attacks are still continuing and users are experiencing difficulties in accessing the material. WikiLeaks reassured the public that they are "winning" the battle. A few hours after the release, WikiLeaks tweeted a screenshot showing the database to be blocked in Turkey, claiming that Ankara "ordered [the release] to be blocked nationwide." More than 200 people have died and over 1,400 injured from the attempted coup. Thousands of people have also been detained and/or lost their posts across the judiciary, military, interior ministry and civil service sectors. The Turkish president Erdogan is blaming the U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen for orchestrating the attempted coup.

9 of 231 comments (clear)

  1. So what happens if... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    There are emails showing that the President made this coup happen in order to weed out rebels and to strengthen his power?

    1. Re:So what happens if... by Rei · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Agree wholeheartedly... I love the amazing, "Gee, just 24 hours after the coup I happen to find a list in this drawer of nearly 3000 judges that must be dismissed..." coincidence ;)

      I've long said that Erdogan is Turkey's Putin, and he shows it ever more with every day. Thankfully he's not in a position to start "annexing" his neighbors...

      --
      Hourglass says she knows a kid in Iowa who grows up to be president.
  2. Re:What would Kissinger do? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    America has no interest in seeing any country become more democratic, least of all itself. America has been co-opted for the 0.001%, and true democracy stands in the way of the rentier class. NATO isn't democratic, the EU isn't democratic, and of course The Sultan isn't democratic.
    Erdogan is being permitted to do whatever the hell he wants, so long as it is NOT democratic. Do not be mistaken.

    Turkey should be divided, and it will be eventually, but not for it's own good, nor that of its many tribes and peoples, but for the benefit of the global oligarchy.

    Funny - time was, even I would've branded me as a conspirational zealot.

  3. Re:end of turkish secular state: summary by thygate · · Score: 3, Interesting

    same thing Hitler did after the invasion of Poland.

  4. Re:The media hasn't really elucidated anything by Shinobi · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The "coup" was most likely covertly triggered by Erdogan, to allow him to initiate yet another purge of anyone opposed to him becoming the new Sultan of the Neo-Ottoman empire, as can be seen in his purge of not only teachers, but also judges, university deans, his further clampdowns on media etc.

  5. Re:What would Kissinger do? by NotAPK · · Score: 4, Interesting

    BTW my American friends:

    That link to the Guardian should not be brushed aside as an idle reference. The public inquiry into the Iraq war is as close to a thorough investigation into a modern democratic government as you will ever get. It took from 2009 to 2016 (17 years) to investigate and the report comprises 2.6 million words in 12 volumes. The inquiry had access to the intelligence services, the parliament and all records related to the Iraq invasion. They interviewed anyone they believed to be of interest.

    In other words, it's a big deal, and if your local media is not reporting on this for whatever reason, then I advise you to appraise yourself of what it contains and what it's all about.

  6. Re:"Democracy" by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Under the peculiar Turkish constitution, the army is actually charged with preserving the constitution and in particular the secular nature of the state. IIRC, the government is obliged to cede power to the Military Council when asked to do so by the military high command. If they do not do this, the army steps in and makes them. When these steps are followed, it is a legal and constitutional process... however what happened last week was an intervention following a coup within the military; the intervention was therefore not constitutional. However one could argue that the army still had a duty to step in and preserve the democratic and secular nature of the state, especially since Erdogan had already purged the military leadership and replaced them with his cronies, bypassing this constitutional safety valve.

    With that said, there is an increasing amount of indication that this coup was staged. The small scale of the whole affair, the strange decisions made by the military insurgents (they went for loudness rather than effectiveness), the ease with which groups of them surrendered (according to some rumours, a lot of the soldiers were just conscripts thinking they were going on a military exercise), the repeatedly reported lack of any attempt to go after or at least capture high ranking government officials, followed by the sudden emergence of stories of miraculously narrow escapes by some of them, including the Heroic Leader. And of course the incredible far-reaching purges that were set in motion moments after the coup was suppressed. There's no proof this was staged, and even if it was I doubt we'll find evidence in the leaked emails, but I still say something smells. Bad. If you want to stage a coup without doing too much damage and without the danger of it escalating into an actual coup, then this is how to do it.

    --
    If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
  7. Re:The media hasn't really elucidated anything by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Some rumours say that a lot of the soldiers were conscripts thinking this was all a military exercise. Hand them rifles loaded with blanks, and plant a handful of agitators with live rounds amongst them. That might also explain the incredible ease with which some of these military units surrendered; real insurgents might be a bit more motivated to avoid arrest. And if a lot of these soldiers took part in this unwittingly, it'll be dead easy to convince them to plead guilty in exchange for clemency.

    There's still no proof of a real coup or a staged one, and I doubt we'll ever see it. But I am still very sceptical. That headline you mention is another red flag: would real insurgents entrust a mission of that importance to a crew not in the know, being told only at the last minute they were going after Erdogan? Seems terribly risky. On the other hand, if you're staging a coup and you need some military action without cluing in a lot of people, this is exactly what I'd tell them.

    --
    If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
  8. Re: RIP Turkey by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Interesting

    You are aware that part of the deal with Erdogan was free travel between Turkey and the EU, yes?

    Are you also aware that he plans to hand those refugees Turkish passports?

    Do the math.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.