48 hours after the failed coup in Turkey, the scale of the uprising is becoming more and more apparent. As new details emerge, the enormity of the threat faced by the country is hitting home.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Binali Yildirim has declared the attempted coup crushed and said that \u201cthe nation has taken a sigh of relief\u201d; nevertheless, he called for people to continue to defend the streets.<\/p>\n
President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan,\u00a0who has not yet returned to the capital Ankara, has also urged his supporters not to leave the squares.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not a situation to let rest. This is not just a 12-hour operation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Continuing clean-up in the country\u2019s key military installations and high- profile arrests, including Erdogan\u2019s top military aide and the Turkish commander of the major NATO base Incirlik, have also revealed that it is too early to sound the ‘all clear’.<\/p>\n
The damage inflicted by Friday\u2019s attempt to take control of the country is evident. More than 200 people were killed, some 1,500 injured; the Parliament was hit by several bombs; war planes, helicopters and tanks hijacked by the plotters have left behind wreckage and destruction.<\/p>\n
The extent of control seized by the rebel forces is beyond initial fears. The role played by the masses who took to the streets in response to Mr Erdogan\u2019s appeal, as well as the firm actions of the President and his government have now become clearer. The swift and unified condemnation of the coup attempt by all political parties, and most of the media was also instrumental in stopping the country plunging off the edge of the cliff.<\/p>\n
There were many examples of grit and courage; but there have also been shameful incidents of lawlessness and cruelty in revenge.<\/p>\n
Tensions remain high, uncertainty and fear continue to be felt.<\/p>\n
It is now imperative for the government to control the heightened sentiments of the crowds and reassure the country. Suggestions such as the one put forward by one of the President\u2019s advisors that gun ownership legislation may be relaxed to \u201cprotect the nation\u2019s right to self-defense\u201d or whipping up calls for re-instituting death penalty are the exact opposite of what is urgently needed.<\/p>\n
There should be no alternative to rule of law and the government must set the example in word and deed.<\/p>\n
Many questions remain unanswered about who really masterminded the coup attempt, how and why we ended up in this situation and the government\u2019s role and responsibility for it.<\/p>\n
But, for now, the priority is to overcome this existential crisis. Recriminations can wait.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
48 hours after the failed coup in Turkey, the scale of the uprising is becoming more and more apparent. As new details emerge, the enormity of the threat faced by the country is hitting home. Prime Minister Binali Yildirim has declared the attempted coup crushed and said that \u201cthe nation has taken a sigh of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[4],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28681"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28681"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28681\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28684,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28681\/revisions\/28684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}