251 people died in the failed coup attempt on the night of July 15. Thousands were injured. In Istanbul and the capital Ankara there were heavy fighting between soldiers and security forces loyal to the government. Erdogan himself narrowly escaped an assassination attempt. Many questions remain open to this day, but one thing is certain: Erdogan became even more powerful afterwards.
The Turkish leadership blames the US-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Glen, a former ally of Erdogan, for the coup attempt. He denies this. But the Erdogan regime took the opportunity to crack down on those who criticized the regime. Not only the armed forces were “cleaned up”. A good 180 media outlets were disbanded, 150 journalists arrested, more than 100,000 civil servants dismissed, and 20,000 members of the Turkish armed forces removed from service. The most common accusation of the public prosecutors was: supporting a terrorist organization.
Expensive palaces for the president
While opposition members still have doubts about the official version of the coup, Erdogan consolidated his power: One year after the coup, he converted the parliamentary system into a presidential one through a constitutional amendment. Another year later he put the system into effect with his election as the almost all-powerful president.
Since then, the Turkish President has been doing better and better and the Turks have got worse and worse. While people are suffering from the consequences of the economic crisis, Erdogan is building one billion-dollar palace after another.
