Political turmoil has engulfed Turkey for months. There has been a government shake-up, a crackdown on dissidents and opposition media and renewed conflict in the mainly Kurdish areas of the southeast. Critics blame President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s increasingly authoritarian rule for eroding democracy and secular laws. Meanwhile, Turkey, a NATO member and a key partner in US-led efforts to defeat the Islamic State group, has seen a wave of terrorist attacks that have crippled one if its biggest industries: tourism. The coup attempt began late Friday night. It escalated quickly as military units closed key routes into Ankara and Istanbul and seized control of state-run television stations. There were clashes between crowds of government supporters and a military group calling itself the Peace at Home Council. The coup plotters issued a statement through the military saying they wanted to take control “to reinstall constitutional order, democracy, human rights and freedom, (and) to ensure that the rule of law once again reigns in the country.” Amid tension and uncertainty, the question of how the country would heal loomed large. Even political parties that fiercely oppose Erdogan had supported the democratically elected government. Erdogan was elected Prime Minister in 2003. Under his rule, Turkey became a powerhouse in the Middle East. His reign came to an end in 2014, and his own party’s rules prevented him from seeking a fourth term. He ran for President — and won. Before this, the President of Turkey was a largely ceremonial role, but Erdogan tried to change that by altering the Constitution to give him more power. Under Erdogan, who is extremely conservative, religion had started to play a more important role in Turkey, which is a largely secular country. He was active in Islamist circles in the 1970s and 1980s. Erdogan’s AK Party has long had strained relations with the military, which has a history of mounting coups to defend secularism although it has not seized power directly since 1980. Turkey is one of the main backers of opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in that country’s civil war, host to 2.7 million Syrian refugees and launchpad last year for the biggest influx of migrants to Europe since World War Two.
