Turkey s Corrupt Power by Tommy Gruwell English 2H Red 1 Mrs. Carins 15 March 2017
Gruwell 1 For far too long the Turkish government has been corrupt and debauched. For many years the Turkish government was starving for more power and money. Nothing was stopping them from getting their money. For years this went on, and it finally hit its breaking point on July 15th. The government and political leaders were at an all time low and needed money and power fast. They were running out of options when they made the decision to start a fake Coup. The Turkish Coup was a front in order to push new government ideas and viewpoints onto the Turkish people. Turkey has become a war zone and has seen a tremendous increase of violent and terroist activities. Turkey is a violent country and local enforcement haven't been protecting or serving the people. Ellis states the Turkey's current situation,"turkey has become increasingly volatile in the past year because of terrorist attacks at home and its involvement in the Syrian civil war." (Ellis 1). Ellis describes the eight terrorist that Turkey has encountered since the start of 2016. Turkey has been impacted by numerous terrorist attacks. Turkey's violence and terrorists rates have increased rapidly through out the last few years. The government showed no effort to solve or improve this issue. Instead of protecting their people, they were taking advantage and taking away their rights. After the coup the country hit rock bottom. People were becoming extremely violent and rebellious. Since law enforcement officers were being arrested, nobody could control the civilians. Ellis distinguishes the surfer the failed coup brought to law enforcement, A failed coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in July led to a massive number of arrests and the imposition of a state of emergency." (Ellis 1). Since the military was involved in planning and executing the coup, many officials were arrested. This led to extreme chaos and anarchy. Citizens took to the streets, after news spread, with any weapons they could
Gruwell 2 find and tried to help fight against the military who was carrying out the coup. The gathered in the streets around Anatolia with only kitchen utensils to help oppose the coup. Since military officials and law enforcement were being arrested, Turkey was a war zone without any protection or law. The President, government, and military has had several scandalous events before suggesting that they are indeed corrupt. The President of Turkey has been losing tons of power and respect from the people. To his followers, he has brought economic growth to Turkey, but to his critics, he is a brutal leader harshly silences anyone who opposes him. In an article from BBC, gives an anecdote that shows what happens to people who oppose him, And dissenters range from a 16-year-old arrested for insulting the president to a former Miss Turkey who got in trouble for sharing a poem critical of the Turkish president. (Recep Tayyip Erdogan). President Erdogan uses his power and influence to silence anybody who disagrees or criticizes him. The 16 year old was arrested without committing any crime, yet the president told the public he committed a crime. He was afraid of how the public might view him after the article was released, so he falsely accused the 16 year old and arrested him. When in reality it hurt his image even more after news spread and citizens stood up at the side of a young boy. His image and power has been decreasing, citizens are not happy with the way they are treated. In an article from BBC, there is an expert opinion stating, "He is known to harbour ambitions of creating an executive presidency, to regain some of the powers he relinquished when his tenure as prime minister ended in 2014." (Recep Tayyip Erdogan). His political power has been slowly decreasing for years now. Even one of his long term follower and supporter had to criticize him
Gruwell 3 on the corruptness. His eleven years as prime minister was not any better. He was caught on taping telling his son to get rid of millions of dollars in incriminating cash. He refused and dismissed any allegations against him, and told the press it was another plot against him. His supporters were falling away, and his money too. After the incident telling his son to throw away millions of dollars, his corruptness was exposed. He told the press that the recording was a blackmail that was being spread via Twitter. He also claims that his phone had been bugged and he was being listened to illegally. He also said that his government officials were victims of the same illegal activity. Since December, when the tape was released, Erdogan has removed and fired the key people involved in the investigation. His man opposition the CHP demanded he resigned, but he refused. He was losing credibility and power, and decided to accuse and arrest more innocent people for his actions. The government had history of pulling controversial stunts, they treated there people with little to no respect and gave them no rights. Before the coup the police suffered a devastating money loss which caused them for fire men. That got people angry. In the article for BBC, it states that, In June 2015 the AKP suffered a dip in the polls and failed to form a coalition. (Recep Tayyip Erdogan). The AKP or the Turkish Military suffered a major dip in money support from the citizens. They truly had nothing to lose and were greedy to gain it back. They have been pulling stunts and other cruel actions to gain their power back. They were losing everything they once had: money, power, respect, and votes from the people.the AKP or the Turkish Military suffered a major dip in respect and support from the citizens. They truly had nothing to lose and were greedy to gain it back. They have been pulling stunts and other cruel
Gruwell 4 actions to gain their power back. The president wanted the AKP Director to stay in office because they were very close and were known for their off the books activity. Once the AKP was losing their votes and were losing, that's when controversy started. They started to plot ideas on how they could gain their votes back. They were desperate with no time left. He was willing to go to jail again if that was necessary. The article from BBC shows his criminal activities, He went to jail for four months in 1999 for religious incitement after he publicly read a nationalist poem including the lines."(recep Tayyip Erdogan). He had already gone to jail before, and the charges seem very suspicious. He is a incredibly intelligent person, but even more corrupt. He treated his country with no respect and is in it for the money. After he realized he was going to lose he wasn't even heard of for several hours. He had no comments and didn't hold a press conference. He was in desperate times for something to change, he was losing and he didn't want that to happen. He was going to do anything in order to, even if that means the lives of innocent Turkish citizens. Turkey was in dire need of a change, money was low and people were seeking change, they had several reasons to pull a fake coup. They were unaware of the consequences this may bring. Several people lost their lives that day. A Washington Post article states the statistics of the aftermath of the coup, At least 42 people were killed in the violence in Ankara, including a lawmaker who died when the parliament was bombed by a helicopter, Turkish officials said.the State run Anadolu news agency said 754 members of the armed forces had been arrested. A Turkish official said 29 colonels and five generals had been removed from their posts. (Cunningham 2). Many people were killed during this violent coup. Also, several armed
Gruwell 5 forces agents were arrested during the Coup. Several political leaders lost their positions in office while the citizens were losing their lives. Almost one thousand armed forces were apart of this coup, which leads you to believe if their were more scandals before this one. There were so many people involved that it hints that they have done something similar to this before. Since people were dying and arrested during this Coup. It was a great time to take advantage of the people which was exactly the government did. They tried to make peace with their citizens after this coup to cover for their corrupt idea. Turkey s government said it was restoring order Saturday after renegade army soldiers staged an attempted coup, wreaking havoc in several Turkish cities and plunging the already troubled country into a new era of uncertainty. (Cunningham 3). The government tried to send help to the people and make it right again. The citizens could not refuse the help, but people were now furious with the government. The citizens weren't holding their government accountable before and did nothing to change their corrupt ways. Which then lead to this coup. The Turkish government declared a state of emergency on July 22. They wanted to try and remove the elements that caused the coup and any terrorist activity involved. The government placed thousands of suspects that were linked to Gulen. They blamed Fethullah Gulen for the uprising of military officials and citizens. They accused him of starting and planning the coup. Gulen was once a strong supporter and ally of Erdogan. Gulen power came from his efforts to fight communism after the 1980 coup. He has been a wealthy and powerful man with lots of followers since. He denied the accusations of starting the coup and blamed it on the government. He was just another victim of the corrupt government and what they will do to cover their tracks.
Gruwell 6 The Turkish government blamed Fethullah Gulen for the failed coup attempt. They needed someone to take the blame for the attempt, and used a powerful man with lots of supporters to be their victim. Yet another victim was accused of executing the fake coup, the U.S. Government. Arango states, When another pro-government newspaper asked Turks in a recent poll conducted on Twitter which part of the the United States government had supported the coup plotters, the CIA came in first, with 69 percent, and the White House was a distant second, with 20 percent. (Arango 1). A pro-government newspaper conducted a poll asking citizens which part of the U.S. government was behind the coup, with CIA coming in first place. The U.S. has had little to no public known contact with Turkey about their views of government issues. The U.S. has no reason to plot a coup to hurt Turkey. The Turkish government is blaming both Gulen, and the government because Mr. Gulen received a green card to live in the United States. Many people including the president believe that Gulen is an American agent. President Obama denied being n contact with Turkey and plotting a coup to diminish their country. The president is still not taking responsibility for the coup and still blames the government. The president in an interview states, The U.S. is behind the coup, no doubt, the deep state of the U.S. the CIA, had a role in it. (Arango 4). The president, citizens, and government are not backing down in his accusations and blaming the U.S. The Turkish government know and have said that there is no real evidence, but they are still blaming the U.S. The U.S. have never planned to make another country fall that they are not in war with. The U.S. had more important matters to deal with in their own country, let alone plotting to hurt another.
Gruwell 7 The Turkish Coup, on July 16th, was carried out in order to push new ideas on the Turkish people. The Turkish government was losing their power and needed to pull a stunt in order distract and get the focus off of them. They have been losing followers and money for years, and needed time to get back on track with the Turkish citizens. We still might never hear the government or the president own up to the coup, but there is no doubt that they knew about it and helped carry it out.
Gruwell 8 Work Cited Sly, Erin Cunningham Liz, and Zeynep Karatas. "Erdogan says his government is in control after bloody coup attempt in Turkey." The Washington Post. WP Company, 16 July 2016. Web. 14 Mar. 2017. Jazeera, Al. "Turkey's failed coup attempt: All you need to know." Turkey News Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera, 30 Dec. 2016. Web. 14 Mar. 2017. Letsch, Constanze. "Leaked tapes prompt calls for Turkish PM to resign." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 25 Feb. 2014. Web. 14 Mar. 2017 Yeginsu, Tim Arango and Ceylan. "Turks Can Agree on One Thing: U.S. Was Behind Failed Coup." The New York Times. The New York Times, 02 Aug. 2016. Web. 14 Mar. 2017. "Failed coup in Turkey: What you need to know." CNN. Cable News Network, n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2017. "Turkey's coup attempt: What you need to know." BBC News. BBC, 17 July 2016. Web. 14 Mar. 2017.
Luttwak, Edward. "Why Turkey's Coup d'état Failed." Foreign Policy. N.p., 16 July 2016. Web. 14 Mar. 2017.