THE attempt by the Turkish armed forces to overthrow the legitimately elected government of President Recep Tayyip Erdorgan on July15 is justifiably eliciting condemnation from all over the world. It was quite shocking that a nation which is aspiring to join the European Union would contemplate a coup d’etat, considering the absolute abhorrence of European countries and the entire civilised world for such an odious action.
We salute the Turkish people for standing up for democracy and for braving the tanks, jet fighters and bombers rolled out against their government. By so doing, they reaffirmed that legitimate power cannot flow from the barrels of guns but must be derived from the consent and will of the people. Their courage and sacrifice are an inspiration to the world. It bears repeating that even bad governance cannot be a legitimate excuse for the violent change of an elected government. Democracy is not perfect as a form of government but it holds the promise of peaceful changes of government.
We lament the loss of nearly 300 innocent men and women to the Turkish military misadventure. It is not just that a military coup is old-fashioned, there is no record of any military overthrow of government that yielded positive results. Turkey and our own country, Nigeria, are vivid examples. Indeed, the years of military rule in Nigeria are regarded as lost years, or better still, the years of the locusts.
The coup attempt could not have come at a worse time for Turkey, a nation struggling with the war in Syria, the threats from the Islamic State of Syria and the Levante, and armed Kurdish dissidents who seem to have resumed their insurrection.
The precise identity of the coup plotters is still unknown although President Erdogan seems to have determined that the followers of the cleric, Fethullah Gulen, who has been in exile in the United States since 1999 is to blame. Analysts are, however, also mentioning the Kemalists, the secular disciples of Turkey’s famous founder, Mostafa Kemal Ataturk, who have been nervous that President Erdogan is pushing the secularity of the country into oblivion while giving the nation greater Islamist accent.
Whichever is the case, however, we must observe with regret that President Erdogan’s massive sweep is beginning to look rather disproportionate, fuelling suspicion of either a premeditated crackdown on his political enemies or an attempt to use the unfortunate incident to settle political scores. At the time of going to press, at least 58,000 government workers have been suspended or dismissed; 9,000 persons are in detention, 7,500 of them are soldiers including 118 generals and admirals; 3,000 members of the judiciary, including 1,481 judges have been suspended. In the education ministry, 15,200 education ministry officials have been dismissed, 21,000 private school teachers have had their licences revoked; additional thousands in the finance ministry, hundreds of clerics, preachers, social policy staff, intelligence officers and officials in the prime minister’s office have been swept out of service.
The political rivalry between President Erdogan and Mr. Gulen only began in 2013. Before then, both men were allies when the going was good. It has become clear that Erdogan never gave up his intention to extirpate the influence of the Gulenists from Turkey if he could and that much of the current purge is his attempt to remove those he had described as “parallel state” whose “virus has enveloped the state.” He is so determined to remove that virus. So, it is no surprise he wants the cleric extradited from the United States. The new proposal of reinstating the death penalty and the blanket accusation of the Obama administration as being privy to the coup will make the extradition of Fethullah Gulen even more difficult.
We urge Mr. Erdogan to abide by the rule of law in his pursuit of the coup plotters. He is, indeed, lucky to be alive and unharmed. Before the coup, he was widely known for high-handed treatment of journalists, repression of press freedom and human rights abuses. He will do well to change his ways.