The coup attempt late last week by elements in the Turkish military to overthrow the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan failed, although more than 230 lives were lost in the incident and roughly 1,500 people were injured. Now, as the cleanup begins and efforts are made to root out the sources of unrest, there is a real danger that Erdogan will use the failed coup to further consolidate power in his own hands, neutralize institutions designed to check that tendency and truly undermine Turkey's democracy.
The incident began Friday afternoon when tanks blocked two of the bridges over the Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul, attempting to cut off the city. Other military vehicles were on the streets, at key locations and buildings, while planes and helicopters flew low over the city and in the capital of Ankara. Members of an army-backed "peace council" announced that they had launched a coup "to ensure and restore constitutional order, democracy, human rights and freedoms" and was now running the country.
Erdogan, reportedly on holiday away from the capital, used his cell phone — the plotters had seized the state television studios — to contact CNN Turk, which broadcast his call for Turkish citizens to fight the revolt. Upon his return to the airport in Istanbul, he denounced the coup as "treason and a rebellion" as fighting broke out across Ankara, Istanbul and other key cities. As other elements of the military that had not joined the coup turned their forces against the rebels, the revolt collapsed.