Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube Blocked In Turkey During Reported Coup Attempt (techcrunch.com) 153
An anonymous reader writes: In response to an attempted military coup, the Turkish government has reportedly blocked social media sites including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. TechCrunch reports: "Turkey Blocks, a Twitter account that regularly checks if sites are being blocked in the country, reported at 1:04 PM Pacific (11:04 PM Istanbul time) that Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube were all unresponsive, though Instagram and Vimeo remained available." Some Turkish users were able to update their social media accounts likely through a VPN or other anonymizing service. One user posted a video on Twitter that shows what appears to be a fighter jet flying very low over the Turkish capital of Ankara; another user has tweeted a video of a helicopter opening fire in Turkey. The Associated Press reports that Turkish prime minister, Binali Yildirim, has confirmed the coup by a group within Turkey's military. The following statement from the group was reportedly read on local television: "Turkish Armed Forces have completely taken over the administration of the country to reinstate constitutional order, human rights and freedoms, the rule of law and the general security that was damaged. All international agreements are still valid. We hope that all of our good relationships with all countries will continue."
UPDATE 7/15/16: Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has issued a statement in a FaceTime call to CNN Turk urging Turkish citizens to take to the streets to defend "Turkish democracy." He urges the Turkish people to convene at public squares and airports, saying there is no power higher than the power of the people.
UPDATE 7/15/16: Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has issued a statement in a FaceTime call to CNN Turk urging Turkish citizens to take to the streets to defend "Turkish democracy." He urges the Turkish people to convene at public squares and airports, saying there is no power higher than the power of the people.
Re:Bye bye Erdogan (Score:5, Insightful)
From what I understand, Erdogan is out of the country, so clearly they timed this to prevent him from being up to directly marshal his forces. But it's still not clear as to whether this is a faction of the Army, or the bulk of it. From what I gather, the head of the Armed Forces has been detained, so it does sound like a large portion of the Army is backing the coup.
Something had to give sooner or later. Erdogan had flushed out most of the old guard, but there were likely a lot of mid-rank officers left who probably had pretty strong feelings about AKP. The Army has long viewed itself as the guarantors of Ataturk's reforms, and they've taken out uppety governments before. But to have this happen while ISIS is still merely dancing about Syria and Northern Iraq, and with Syria still a bloody mess, and with refugees flooding the country, well, this is a pretty unique set of circumstances.
Re:Bye bye Erdogan (Score:5, Interesting)
One major factor might be that the "Ergenekon" network people were released in April. These are the people that Erdogan imprisoned on charges of conspiring to remove him from power but there was no evidence the plot even existed. The plot may not have existed, but he gave a hell of an incentive to create one.
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A large portion of the army: yes! As they are citizens, too!
A large portion of the head of the army: no, as they are Erdogans cronies, too!
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Really sad that they failed. Everybody's scared of Erdogan.. and now that he's going o order dozens of summary executions fo this attemnpt he's essentially got the power of a dictator. Bye Bye to demokratiko Turkey!
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Bye bye Erdogan
Gone, gone the form of man. Rise, the Demon, Etrigan^W Erdogan!
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Glad they're finally flushing that dictator.
False Flag Operation, no comment on NATO nukes or US involvement.
Coup (Score:5, Funny)
I didn't think turkeys could fly the coup?
Re:Coup (Score:4, Insightful)
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No wonder this place is going to shit, you mods think bad jokes are worth fucking slow claps. Explains everything.
Re:Coup (Score:5, Funny)
Oh come on, that was the best value coup pun I've seen in years.
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I don't know. Felt kinda poultry to me.
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It is indeed there.
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Mind. Blown. +1
Re:Coup (Score:5, Funny)
as god as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.
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as god as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.
I doubt many on /. these days are old enough to remember WKRP, let alone remember that episode. But I got a good laugh out of it.
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+1
Great series that - sitcoms that are actually funny are hard to come by these days
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Re:Coup (Score:4, Informative)
We have fat turkeys out here in California.... (Score:1)
And quite a few of them are big enough to be scary to larger predators, and can fly up into the trees (Like I've seen them leap and fly into 40 ft trees before, up into the upper branches.)
From what I've heard, a few of them have even leaped from said trees and attacked people passing by. If they got any more aggressive they would be a major menace in some areas out here. As it is they are mostly an ecological disaster and a nuisance around here.
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I believe they are upset with Twitter over something else entirely [twitter.com]
As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly (Score:2)
NATO (Score:2)
A coup in a non-trivial NATO nation would be interesting.
Re:NATO (Score:5, Interesting)
Erdogan made no secret of his designs. From the man himself: "Democracy is like a train: when you reach your destination, you get off". And: "The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets and the faithful our soldiers"
Re:NATO (Score:5, Interesting)
This is different because Erdogan had already pushed through quite a few reforms and had, by all accounts, removed much of the old guard of Generals and replaced them with loyalists. If this coup is widespread, it means either some of the Generals aren't as loyal to Erdogan as he thought, or that they've been removed from the equation. This is beginning to sound less like a classic revolt of the Turkish Generals, and more like a revolt of the Turkish Colonels, more of an almost Latin American style coup.
Re:NATO (Score:5, Informative)
Don't be too quick though to believe the notion (all too eagerly repeated by CNN) that it's Gülenists leading the coup, i.e. a different brand of muslims. It might be true, but the Turkish government has always been quick to blame stuff on that movement. And if they want anyone in or outside the military to stand up against this coup, that would by far be the best lie to spread.
Re:NATO (Score:5, Interesting)
The fact that this junta seems to be talking about forming a Peace Council to protect Turkish citizens' rights regardless of race or religion suggests that, oddities aside, this is a coup more in the classic Turkish tradition. In other words, Erdogan ultimately was unable to get rid of all the Ataturk secularists in the army, and his own Generals ultimately failed to overawe those further down the ranks.
I've also just read that Erdogan has tried to address the nation via some sort of online service (there's a picture of someone watching his address via iPhone, and it looks like he's standing in front of hotel curtains), and that he had tried to land in Istanbul but had been refused. This would suggest he's probably holed up somewhere in Europe. With AKP's headquarters now under military control, the state broadcaster shut down, and Erdogan blocked from re-entering the country, the claim that is Gulenists is likely false. This is far too big, and sounds like it involves far too much of the military to be blamed on what really is at best a fringe movement.
It might not be the Generals staging the coup, the ghost of Ataturk has taken out another Turkish government.
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The Guardian is confirming that Erdogan's interview was with CNN Turkey, via FaceTime! I'm thinking he's lost access to all of the instruments of the Turkish state. He's standing in front of hastily drawn blinds that could either be a hotel or an office. Could be a Turkish embassy, could be a hotel, but since he wasn't allowed to land in Istanbul, it's almost certainly not in Turkey.
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The reports state that his plane was refused permission to land in Istanbul, and that he is now apparently requesting Asylum in Europe (Germany has refused). So I think it likely does mean he is no longer in Turkey.
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Its also possible they were loyal and changed sides. Its hard to change the culture of a something like a military.
You might manage to use political clout to install your 'loyalist general' but after he spends some time with the other generals and the ranks he might come round to their way of thinking.
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Turkey has had a few coups. Since NATO?
Isn't nominal democracy a condition for NATO membership?
Re:NATO (Score:5, Informative)
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Turkey has been a member of NATO since '52, and has had 2 coups since ('60 and '80) as well as a military intervention in '71, and they stepped in as recently as '97. Keep in mind that the Turkish army is charged to defend democracy and step in when that is threatened. That may sound weird (and it's doubtful that their motives were as pure as that in '80) but it appears that it is kind of necessary sometimes.
But US now has a policy of not talking to or working with countries with a miltary coup. That could really complicate the military cooperation, for instance against ISIS, which the US conducts from Turkish basis. If the coup succedes, current official US policy would be to withdraw from Turkey.
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That is what the law says sure, but that isn't what the Lawless Obama administration / John Kerry do.
Remember Egypt - coup - no question about but the military aide keeps flowing.
I remember Kerry made a statement to the effect of "the law does not require us to make a determination if a coup has occurred."
I am going to try it next time I get pulled over, "sure office the law says I have to comply with all visible traffic control devices, it does not say I have to look to see if they are there!" oh wait I am
Re:NATO (Score:5, Informative)
Isn't nominal democracy a condition for NATO membership?
No. Turkey and Greece were both members of NATO while they were military dictatorships. NATO has never been much concerned about the internal politics of its members.
They've joined NATO in 1952... (Score:2)
Since then they had a coup about once a decade.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
1960 one ended with hanging of Prime Minister, Minister of Labor and Finance and Minister of Foreign Affairs.
1980 one ended with 50 (official) executions and half a million arrests. [economist.com]
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For smaller countries that want protection, yes. For strategically important/powerful countries, less so.
Re:NATO (Score:4, Informative)
Turkey has had a few coups. Since NATO? Isn't nominal democracy a condition for NATO membership?
I think the formula you're looking for is: !communist. During the cold war it was "he's a bastard, but he's our bastard" rules.
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Turkey is an odd exception: when they have a military coup the new government is often better than the one it replaces.
Over the years, I've known a few Turks who were working or studying in the USA or Europe. What Westerners think of as Turks are people like them - from Ankara or Istanbul, college education & speaking at least one of English/French/German.
However they're the majority. Most of them are goat-kicking mud-fuckers, which is why wankers like Erdogan get elected.
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Indeed I did. Clearly you're not a Turk.
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You have a weird definition for "interesting".
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NATO will decry the unlawful deposing of a democratically elected leader, and then will immediately set about making sure the Army is still on board. I'm sure they still have the procedure manual titled "What To Do When A Turkish President Is Deposed".
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Given Turkey's unique constitution, it isn't entirely clear that this IS an unlawful deposing of a democratically elected leader. This is their form of an impeachment.
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And it failed- nearly 1600 members of the military have been arrested.
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With several layers of sticky labels with the word "again" stuck on the cover.
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*cough* Greece
Sorry
military coup in Turkey? (Score:2)
Sounds like the goats are out for revenge.
That's the way to do it! (Score:2)
Re:That's the way to do it! (Score:5, Interesting)
In this case, it looks like they waited until Erdogan was outside the country on holiday.
Mind you, an alternative explanation is that Erdogan saw this coming and hightailed it before they could get a hold of him.
The difference between the two explanations is whether his suitcases are packed with swimming trunks or bars of gold.
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Would be interesting to see him swimming in swimming trunks with suitcases full with bars of golds in his hands.
If Any Country Needed a Coup... (Score:5, Interesting)
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In those countries, the "elections", if there are any meaningful ones to begin with, are usually along religious lines instead of political ones. The party with the most adherents (Muslims) win. They never fail to reinstate theocratic rules and suppress or eradicate non-Muslims (mostly other sects of Muslims such as the Kurds in Turkey).
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There are only two saecular countries in the world.
France and Turkey.
are usually along religious lines instead of political ones
You are an idiot.
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Kurds are an ethnic group, not a sect. Most of them are Sunni.
The AKP lost their majority in the election last June... but that just resulted in a hung parliament and a new election where the people voted for the AKP by a wide margin because they decided stability was more important.
Re:If Any Country Needed a Coup... (Score:4, Interesting)
I generally agree. The Turkish military has long had high standing in Turkey and though they might be frightening when they replace a civilian government... the military invariably steps aside without much drama and allows a new civilian government.
My rule is that military coups are always bad. They always result in police states, massive repression, torture, repudiation of human rights, you name it. Except in Turkey. Turkey is like the exception that proves the rule. Only in Turkey can a military coup have a positive outcome. It's the strangest thing!
Frankly I had really hoped that Turkey had moved beyond needing the military for this role. That is disappointing. The Turks even threw out Erdogan at the polls a couple of years ago, only to have a snap election that brought him back. Perhaps the first instinct of the Turks was the correct one, and second thoughts their undoing.
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Egypt too, at least the most recent one.
I'm surprised its taken this long. (Score:4, Interesting)
Recep Tayyip Erdoan has tried destroying the constitution and the spirit of ataturk's secular state of Turkey. This is a benevolent coup to restore the normal order of turkey, and has happened many times when dictators try to take the country a different way.
Re:I'm surprised its taken this long. (Score:5, Insightful)
You have to give Ataturk credit. There aren't a lot of secular rulers who have cast as long a shadow as he has.
Re:I'm surprised its taken this long. (Score:5, Interesting)
You have to give Ataturk credit. There aren't a lot of secular rulers who have cast as long a shadow as he has.
He had some lucky breaks. When he was a young colonel, his passion for reform made some enemies ... so he was exiled to a remote outpost of no significance called "Gallipoli". In the Spring of 1915, when the Allied forces went ashore there, commanded by some of the most incompetent generals in history, they were facing a Turkish commander at the top of the cliffs, who was one of the best.
In a British poll [telegraph.co.uk], he was rated as one of the greatest foes of the British Empire, along with George Washington, Napoleon, and Rommel.
Putin's revenge (Score:1)
Just a theory: Putin stirred certain people and certain places and the coup happened.
Russians are spending truly monstrous amount of money to their intelligence service and to their agents. Since Erdogan, with all his flaws and corruption, was one of the leaders who said ***k you, Putin. Erdogan had it coming.
Why this theory has some credibility? The truth is that those who are observant could see that Putin's regime (just like Soviet's regime before him) is trying to have a voice and an influence, through
Re:Putin's revenge (Score:5, Informative)
No, I doubt that greatly. The one thing Turkey has long been is very anti-Russian. The sentiments are very old, dating back to the Ottoman period. Erdogan has been pushing buttons for a few years now, and while everyone thought he had sufficiently emasculated the army to prevent a coup, clearly he had not.
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There is no proof yet, and probably it will never surface.
However undermining one of the largest NATO country is Putin's wet dream.
The theory will be confirmed, if after the coup the Kurds will announce their independence. If they will ... it will confirm Russia's recent promises to partition the Turkey.
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I'm sure Russia could initiate a limited peacekeeping action to maintain order and provide humanitarian aid along the Bosporus and a small (200 mile) area either side of it.
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Nope. The coup happened a few days after Russia and Turkey decided to normalize relations. It is more likely the United States is behind the coup because of Turkey's recent actions.
Blocked? No routing around the damage? (Score:1)
What is the status of circumvention efforts? Radio, mesh, ISPs just outside the border, anything? I would like to know if anybody is providing assistance in getting the word in and out of the country.
Holy shit (Score:5, Insightful)
If this is a genuine coup, the repercussions are going to be felt across the world. A lot of people might think that Turkey is some backwards country adjacent to Europe but, it's basically the bridge between the Middle East and Europe. It's a modern country with an advanced military and very close ties to almost all western countries. Middle Eastern immigrants almost inevitably travel through Turkey and their policies (for better or worse) play a huge role in determining how that happens. Chaos in Turkey is a BIG FUCKING DEAL. It's practically the worst possible place to have a coup.
Actually not too worried (Score:5, Interesting)
The military there have done this sort of thing before, and they are or at least were very staunch defenders of Ataturk's vision for a secular Turkey. Erdogan, by contrast, is a tin pot dictator who totally had it coming. In his own words, "Democracy is like a train: when you reach your destination, you get off." His destination is that of an islamic Turkey. He has said so often enough, you can see it in his policies, there is no doubt about it.
Well, he just got thrown off the train for making a right mess of things, and good riddance. I sincerely hope so, at any rate.
It hopefully opens the door, to, say, Turkey supporting the Kurds fighting IS, who're so far the only effective ones, and could do without Turkey bombing them in turn. We too needed that to stop, so this is a step in the right direction. We, the European people, also very much need Turkey to be secular, that with the eurocrats bent on getting Turkey to join up in all but a name. (Well, not entirely: Erdogan was blackmailing them with his supposed power to stop the refugee flood for easy access to the EU for his muslim hordes, and they let themselves be hauled over the barrel. But that's another story.)
Anyway, for now I cautiously see this as a positive development. But of course the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Let's see what they do next.
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I don't know enough about Erdogan to condemn or condone him. I do know that Turkey plays a vital role in world politics and any kind of chaos there, at this point in time, is going to have very far reaching implications. And probably not positive ones.
At the very least, there is now a German comedian who is breathing a sigh of relief. And maybe Boris can print some t-shirts with his poem about Erdogan fucking a goat without retribution.
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Or maybe not. If Erdogan is well and truly deposed (and it's certainly beginning to look that way), then he'll probably have more time on his hand to fight the few battles left for him to fight.
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I think the Slashdot community as a whole has very little experience in "deciding what to do as a deposed leader of a country". Personally, I'd fly to Buenos Aires and just vanish. Women, wine and great food. They also have a sketchy history of letting "undesirable" people into the country. Though, someone should warn Erdogan that if you overstay your tourist visa for long enough, they will kick you out. Nazis? Sure, no problem. somenickname? NOT WELCOME.
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The military there have done this sort of thing before, and they are or at least were very staunch defenders of Ataturk's vision for a secular Turkey.
So Turkey's air force is more secular then the US air force?
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Except it is a backwards country adjacent to Europe. And they are far less important than you think. Hell, Putin brought the country to its knees just by suggesting that Russians should go on vacation elsewhere.
Re:Holy shit (Score:4, Informative)
Until 2003 the, the Turkish military actually had the constitutional power to dissolve the government. The military acting to restore a secular government is a long tradition in Turkey - this isn't a banana republic-style coup. This is part of the traditional (and until recently, constitutional) power of the Turkish military.
Erdogan requested asylum in Germany (Score:4, Informative)
Just moments ago. Seems it was promptly rejected.
Re:Erdogan requested asylum in Germany (Score:5, Funny)
Merkel's revenge. Erdogan seemed to enjoy putting her over a barrel over the Syrian refugee crisis. Well, now the Iron Chancellor has her boot on his neck.
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I had a case of that, after I ate some bad sauerkraut.
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Wasn't there just a big tussle about him taking legal action against a German comedian who made fun of him? After that, I wouldn't even let the guy sleep on my guest bed...
In all honesty (Score:2)
...the reddit thread is running a higher signal-to-noise ratio than this one.
I hope it goes without bloodshed ... (Score:5, Informative)
... and I hope the military wins and reestablishes a working Kemalism.
Erdogan was a huge leap backwards for Turkey. They need to reestablish secularism and seperation of power.
And new rules and a new democratic election.
Keep your fingers crossed.
My thoughts and hopes are with Turkey now. Yours should be too.
My 2 Eurocents.
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Who the hell are you to decide what's right and wrong for Turkey? That's nobody's business but the Turks. They'll decide for themselves what they want to have, and if Islam is what they want then that's what they get. Erdogan was elected democratically.
You're actually supporting a military coup over a democratic leader. Your intellectual process divided by zero at some point and now you're generating nonsensical conclusions.
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Should we burst into song at this point?
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Who the hell are you to decide what's right and wrong for Turkey? That's nobody's business but the Turks. They'll decide for themselves what they want to have, and if Islam is what they want then that's what they get. Erdogan was elected democratically.
So was Hitler. The point about democracy is that even its elected leaders have to follow its rules. Which Erdogan evidently doesn't. He redoes the constitution to suit his whim, cleanses Universities, locks away people not in party line, removes power from t
MIlitary are shooting civilians now (Score:2)
Euronews just played footage of the Turkish military firing at a crowd trying to clear a bridge in Istanbul. Damn.
Is Putin next? (Score:2)
Likely not. But the world would be better off without Putin and Erdogan.
The danger in our world is not "Terrorism" but the people behind it.
Crazy Crazy Stuff... (Score:1)
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Come on, that video shows fire at a target. You can't see the target, you can't see who or what is at it, and there's certainly no signs it's a "crowd".
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Turkey has been through this before. They know the drill. Keep your head down, wait for the new constitution, and then back to normal. Rinse and repeat.
Perhaps the biggest mistake within and outside Turkey was assuming Erdogan's position was as secure as it seemed.
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Marshall Law etc...
Marshall Law? Sounds like a HIMYM spinoff.
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Marshall Law
Is he related to Judge Dredd? Or were you referring to martial law?