''GRANADA – Military
coups – successful or otherwise – follow a predictable pattern in
Turkey. Political groups – typically Islamists – deemed by soldiers to
be antagonistic to Kemal Atatürk’s vision of a secular Turkey gain
increasing power. Tensions rise, often accompanied by violence on the
streets. Then the military steps in, exercising what the soldiers claim
is their constitutional power to restore order and secular principles.
This time, it was
very different. Thanks to a series of sham trials targeting secularist
officers, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had managed to reconfigure the
military hierarchy and place his own people at the top. While the
country has been rocked by a series of terrorist attacks and faces a souring economy,
there was no inkling of unrest in the military or opposition to
Erdoğan. On the contrary, Erdoğan’s recent reconciliation with Russia
and Israel, together with his apparent desire to pull back from an
active role in the Syrian civil war, must have been a relief to Turkey’s
top brass.''
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