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15-16 July 2016Peer-reviewed · 2 sourcesWell documented

A Coup Attempt Fails, and Erdogan Purges the Military

Tanks in the streets of Ankara and Istanbul, and by morning the plotters have lost

On the timeline · around 15-16 July 2016 · The Republic of TurkeyThe Republic of TurkeyA Coup Attempt Fails, and Erdogan Purges the Military1960197019801990200020102020

Quick facts

Coup attempt date
15-16 July 2016
Blamed on
Fethullah Gulen (denied involvement)
Outcome
Coup collapsed within hours
Aftermath
Mass detentions and dismissals across military, judiciary, civil service

What happened

On 15 July 2016, a faction within the Turkish military attempted to seize power, deploying tanks and aircraft against government buildings including the parliament in Ankara. The attempt was poorly coordinated and had no meaningful public backing, and it collapsed within hours as President Erdogan called on citizens to resist in the streets and the loyalist chain of command reasserted control. Turkish authorities blamed the cleric Fethullah Gulen, a former Erdogan ally living in self-exile in the United States, for orchestrating the plot, a charge Gulen denied, and the government subsequently detained over one hundred thousand people and dismissed tens of thousands of soldiers, judges, and civil servants accused of Gulenist ties.

Why it matters

The 2016 attempt was the only military coup bid in the republic's history to fail outright, a reversal of the pattern set by the successful interventions of 1960 and 1980, and Erdogan used the crisis and the state of emergency that followed it to purge the armed forces so thoroughly that analysts describe the military as no longer an independent political force capable of threatening the government, a fundamental change in Turkey's civil-military balance that had persisted since Ataturk's era.

How we know

The 2016 coup attempt and the AKP government's successful mobilization against it are analyzed in a scholarly account published in the Journal of Democracy shortly after the event, drawing on the government's own crisis response and subsequent purge of the military and civil service.

Sources

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A Coup Attempt Fails, and Erdogan Purges the Military · History of Turkey · SourcedStory