Turkey’s failed Coup

Policy Brief

Thinly organised, poorly executed, and uniformly condemned, Turkey’s failed coup of July 15th 2016 came as an utter surprise. Disconcerting observers, perhaps as much as the Turkish President Mr. Erdoğan, the dramatic events of last Friday stand as a testament of how unpredictable the domestic politics of the region’s largest and most stable country has become. Yet, the surprising nature of this ill-fated attempt did not just lie in the very fact that such an attempt materialised.

The way the events unfolded and the manner in which the uprising was crushed struck a series of ironic tones that made the coup’s very occurrence more startling. Beyond the inherently paradoxical nature of any coup (breaking the law in order to restore the rule of law), it is these ironies that are of great significance both for the status quo and the future dynamics in the country.

Read the policy brief