Five years after coup in Turkey

For five years, the anniversary of July 15 in Turkey has become a celebration of Erdogan's victory that helped him to replace the country's parliamentary democracy with his one-man rule under his executive presidency. 

The date also marks the commemoration of the 251 "martyrs" who lost their lives in suppressing the coup attempt.

The attempted coup on the night of July 15 raised more questions than answers. Ironically, after five years, this is still the case. The questions raised remained unanswered, and the mystery around the coup attempt has not been solved.

The government did not waste one second before it claimed that its erstwhile ally, cleric Fethullah Gulen who resides in the United States, was the culprit of the coup attempt. Any institution and individuals affiliated with him at any level are considered terrorists and members of the so-called Fethullah Gulen Terror Organization (FETO).

In Turkey’s official parlance, the connection between Gulen and the coup attempt is a foregone conclusion. Anybody that might question the validity of the allegation would be in trouble. The countries that hesitate to buy official Turkish claims have been condemned as enablers of Gulen’s treacherous plot against Turkey.

The heavy crackdown in the aftermath of the coup wasn’t limited to Gulenists. The crackdown targeted the entire opposition; the leaders, members, and followers of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party; and journalists.

According to official data released July 14, some 4,890 people were condemned to imprisonment — 3,000 of them for life. Forty-four thousand military personnel were expelled from the armed forces. 

The Turkish Human Rights Association and the Human Rights Foundation announced that nearly 140,000 public servants were arbitrarily dismissed. Their right to object was denied during the state of emergency that was in force from 2016-2018, and most of them were denied public and private sector jobs.

The aftermath of the coup attempt also saw a referendum on constitutional change, which brought transformation to an executive presidency that ditches any sort of check and balance mechanism. 

The Judiciary lost its independent status and became subservient to the president as a result of the constitutional change. The prime ministry post was annulled, and the whole executive authority was transferred to the president.

The passion for underscoring the coup attempt has not faded after five years. It is not because the trauma of the coup attempt is still vivid in the minds of the people. Rather, it is because Erdogan’s regime still feels short of legitimizing their rewriting of Turkey's history.