Turkey Coup Proves Convenient For Purging Enemies

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan responded to a botched coup by a faction of the Turkish military on Friday with a counter-coup of his own. After members of the Turkish military tried and failed to capture the President and take over the country, forces loyal to the government embarked on a “purge” of the military and judiciary ostensibly to root out coup sympathizers. 6,000 people were arrested including almost 3,000 judges. It is unclear what role so many judges could have played in a 12 hour coup attempt… 

The counter-coup has been so ruthless that conspiracy theorists suggest that Erdogan himself might have staged the coup to use it as an excuse to purge his enemies. And Erdogan has a lot of enemies: from secular generals opposed to his Islamist-leaning ideology to Kurdish separatists to a Pennsylvania based Turkish preacher/cult leader who Erdogan blames for the coup. However, there is no evidence that Erdogan staged the coup. In fact, emerging reports indicate that he may have just barely escaped death himself.