Coup Experts See Erdogan Bungling Victory Over Inept Putschists
- Desperation amid crackdown seen as motivation for another try
- ‘They now realize that the mistake was not capturing Erdogan’
Erdogan's Leadership Challenges in Post-Coup Turkey
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President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s harsh response to the weekend’s poorly planned putsch may be an overreach that risks provoking another attempt, according to military experts who study coups d’etats.
Payback was swift and sweeping. By Monday, almost 20,000 people had been arrested or removed from their jobs, including military personnel, judges and interior and finance ministry officials. Civilian mobs were filmed beating surrendering soldiers and attempting to throw some of the wounded over a bridge in Istanbul. Crowds on the street chanted for the return of the death penalty, which Turkey banned as part of its talks to join the European Union.