The 10 blunders of the coup plotters

The first the coup plotters’ blunders was the assumption that by seizing two bridges and flying eight or 10 jets low to the ground one could take over the country. Their second stupid act was believing that by making state-run TRT television broadcast an out-of-date declaration, the whole business would be over, as if we were in the times of former failed coup leader Talat Aydemir.

Their third mistake was being overconfident and counting on the fact that the citizens, who had not even fired one shot when former Prime Minister Adnan Menderes was hanged in 1961, would consent to whatever was happening. Their fourth stupidity was that even though they were staff officers, they made blunders that were quite far from any strategy or planning. Their fifth flaw was they were sloppy to not consider that a coup attempt which starts at 10:30 p.m. has a zero percent chance of success. 

The sixth item on their failure list was naming their junta the “Peace in the Country Council,” actually the worst name in Turkey’s coup history. 

The seventh stupidity was opening fire on people and bombing here and there; they conducted a terror act in uniform rather than a coup. Their eighth blunder was not taking into account President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has weathered 1,000 crises during his political life. 

Their ninth mistake was failing to calculate that the vast majority of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) would not stand beside them. 

Their final stupidity was assuming whoever opposed Erdoğan and whoever was not happy with him would automatically side with them. 

The answer to the question “what good is a free media?” is that it prevents military coups. 

I also have two demands: In an environment where so many people have died, when so much blood has been shed, this celebratory atmosphere should be abandoned. 

My second demand is that except for those who opened fire on people, the poor privates who were victims of the madness of a bunch of middle and high ranking officers should immediately be released. 


From now on…

No pro-government troll on social media could be rude to ex-President Abdullah Gül or ex-Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu. 

None of the mouthpieces of the government will be able to call opposition leaders Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and Devlet Bahçeli “coup-stagers.” 

No voice from the pro-government front will ever be able to shake their finger at the free, impartial and independent media and call them “coup-supporting media.” 


If they had succeeded…

We would have been in a situation where we would not be able to complain about the things we are complaining about now.  Let alone free press, there would not even be any press left. We would have gone back at least 30 years. We would have been exposed, even worse, to the cruelty of the Fethullah community, an example of which we saw in the Ergenekon and Sledgehammer cases. 


Intelligence should close shop  

At a time when, from morning to night, it has been constantly pointed out with a loud voice: “Fethullah… Fethullah…”

It was a time when it was pronounced that “our biggest problem is the parallel structure.” At a time when dawn operations were carried out against Gülen community members; at a time when there was not even one place left where a legal caretaker has not been appointed; at a time when an exaggerated caution about the “parallel structure” has been in question…

In such an environment, I suggest that all intelligence units in our country who were clueless about the Gülen community members’ coup attempt in the army should close shop. 


One, two, three

Erdoğan has truly demonstrated great leadership. That is one. Those people who confronted tanks at the cost of their lives are worthy of adoration. That is two. To be able to call what is happening “theater,” one has to be deprived of conscience. This is three. 

In another count, the five facts that have emerged from the coup attempt: 

Fact one: Those who said “the community would not attempt to stage a coup” were terribly mistaken.  

Fact two: The “Fethullah Gülen community members within the army” topic was actually not an exaggerated matter at all. 

Fact three: The “parallel state structure” or “FETÖ” topics were not paranoia, as it was assumed. 

Fact four: The community really had sleeper cells and these people were ready for kamikaze acts at any given time as if they had been drugged. 

Fact five: Fighting with “the community,” with its totally secret original structure, actually called for original methods.