Comment by: Jalil Afridi
Turkish people created history yesterday by thwarting army attempt to take over democratically elected government led by President Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan was on taking a vacation when a faction of Turkish army tried to make this illegal coup and topple his government. According to political analysts and Erdogan, the mastermind and planner of this coup is no other than Fatehullah Gulen, who resides in America and is among the top one hundred most influential people in the world. This connection of Gulen was also established when an army officer inside a tank in Ankara was arrested with a diary in his pocket which had things such as “if the coup fails, kill the civilians, destroy the infrastructure, Gulen loves you.” This is also not the first time that followers of Gulen has committed such illegal and criminal acts. Another failed coup attempt was made in 2012 by the followers of Gulen, who gets education from his education institutes around the world (including Pakistan) and are given guaranteed good jobs after their studies are completed.
Moving scenes were witnessed yesterday in Turkey, when a single and short message of Erdogan on Facetime led hundreds and thousands of Turkish people to came out on roads and demanded army to go back to their barracks. It were the civilians who made the army back off and get out of the government buildings and the civilians did that because they had faith in their leader, Erdogan. Political team of Erdogan are so loyal and dedicated to him and their country that one of his governor, Avni Cos from the province of Sakarya was seen outside the governor house with thousands of supporters holding a gun in his own hand.
According to latest reports, so far 161 civilians have been killed, 1440 injured and 2839 army officers and soldiers are arrested. There are also reports that some hostages, including civilians, government officials and army officers are held by some army officers loyal to Gulen who wants Erdogan to negotiate with them. But chances are very little that Erdogan will negotiate as he has already called these army officers as “traitors.”
Jubilations were witnessed all over the country when Erdogan plane landed at Ataturk Airport yesterday when he returned from his vacation. He termed the coup as “a gift from God” saying that this act would cleanse the military from the “members of the gang.”
Many Turkish citizens while talking to The Frontier Post regretted the biased attitude of international media saying that “in those few hours when army was in illegal action in Turkey, the international media did not condemn the atrocities done by the army and did not support the democratically elected government of Erdogan. ”
An eye witness in Istanbul, Abdullah while talking to The Frontier Post asked “how come the international media and western powers were not condemning while a few traitors of Turkey were killing civilians left and right?”
Another Turkish citizen Kamal while talking to The Frontier Post said that “we are proud of Erdogan to give a helping hand to refugees from Iraq and Syria. He cares for poor Muslims. He is the only true Muslim leader around the world.”
Coming 72 hours are very critical for Turkey. President Erdogan has asked Turkish citizens to remain vigilant and remain on streets to make sure things remain calm and no illegal or undemocratic acts are committed by any force. The followers of Gulen are not only in the army but also in civilians and other institutes. What needs to be seen is whether these followers of Gulen will make another undemocratic and inhumane move to make Turkey unstable or whether Erdogan will succeed to putting Turkey back on track and normalcy.
