Turkey coup F16s had Erdogan in their sights but did not fire

[Lothaeryn]

Can we stop with the conspiracy theories and just accept that it was a shitty and ill planned coup?

Considering this is a country that has done military coups nearly every decade and this is just as easy for them as spring cleaning, the probability that, just magically, only a small section would start a coup with little resources and manpower and would be so incompetent to just "miss" egerdogan being on "vacation", find him in the air,only to not fire on his plane OR his escorts to force a landing makes everything highly suspect, especially considering that he removed multiple judges in the thousands just hours after the attempt.

[Xar226]

This really seems staged. Thousands are being purged from the government, judges, advisers, government officials, judges, etc. Erdogan has a free pass to get rid of anyone who may have even looked at him the wrong way in the past.

I'm not quite prepared to call it staged yet (extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence and all that), but whether it was or wasn't he is absolutely taking ridiculous liberties with the aftermath. One might be able to rationalize quickly arresting members of the military (perhaps they were the ones pointing guns at you?) but to have a couple hundred judges and other officials in custody? No. The plot doesn't unravel that quickly. This reeks of having a pre-determined list. To what extent that list is plotters--if there really was a plot--and to what extent it is political rivals is what needs to be determined now.

It's also worth noting that this guy was prime minster for four terms before being term-limited, so he ran for president instead and has spent the time since attempting to change their constitution to turn the president from a ceremonial position into one with significant power. Consolidating his own power has literally been his primary goal since he took office.

The whole thing is starting to smell.

[Tennis]

A coup isn't all rainbows and unicorns where people sit down by a fire and sing songs to solve things, then tend to be rather violent.

Riight even though previous coups in Turkey weren't mass murder by the soldiers right. Nice try.

[Deleted]

They didn't want to make a mess? They didn't want to be shot down by the escort fleet? They were not up for murder?

It's not murder when you're at war.

[PACOX]

Considering this is a country that has done military coups nearly every decade and this is just as easy for them as spring cleaning, the probability that, just magically, only a small section would start a coup with little resources and manpower and would be so incompetent to just "miss" egerdogan being on "vacation", find him in the air,only to not fire on his plane OR his escorts to force a landing makes everything highly suspect, especially considering that he removed multiple judges in the thousands just hours after the attempt.

I know Turkey has had a history of coups but this one seems more as an appeal to "the old ways" rather than some conspiracy. Coups aren't democratic, so it doesn't surprise me that even the political opposition denounced the coup.

[Deleted]

taking out the prior government is generally a part of the goal. Coups tend to be bloody. This one was way to tame.

The turkish military succeeded at overthrowing the government of Turkey thrice since 1970 and they never killed the head of state they were fighting against, all of the fallen presidents have been imprisoned though.
None of these coups were bloody.

[GennGreymane]

The turkish military succeeded at overthrowing the government of Turkey thrice since 1970 and they never killed the head of state they were fighting against, all of the fallen presidents have been imprisoned though.
None of these coups were bloody.

Interesting.
My statement you quote says take out the prior government. Which you just told me they did. Considering civilians tend to be in the cross fire, and plenty died here, yes they can be bloody.

What confuses me here is they had an opportunity, and so did Erdogan's jets to take out coup controlled jets.

So this was either the absolute most uncoordinated and shittiest coup ever attempted, or something else is up here.

[Azmaria]

Riight even though previous coups in Turkey weren't mass murder by the soldiers right. Nice try.

Excuse me but where did I mention mass murder? Oh right I didn't I said that they tend to be violent.

[Deleted]

Why didn't Erdogan's escort intercept the rebel controlled F16s? It seems dangerous to just let them linger around, presumably Erdogan's plane has countermeasures but it's a weird risk to take.

[Deleted]

Interesting.
My statement you quote says take out the prior government. Which you just told me they did. Considering civilians tend to be in the cross fire, and plenty died here, yes they can be bloody.

What confuses me here is they had an opportunity, and so did Erdogan's jets to take out coup controlled jets.

So this was either the absolute most uncoordinated and shittiest coup ever attempted, or something else is up here.

Killing the president is just a pretty bad idea, unless the military wanted to be painted as criminals, they would never have done that. It would have prevented them from getting any popular support, and the coup would have failed, the AKP wouldn't have an hard time finding a replacement for Erdogan.

[GennGreymane]

Killing the president is just a pretty bad idea, unless the military wanted to be painted as criminals, they would never have done that. It would have prevented them from getting any popular support, and the coup would have failed, the AKP wouldn't have an hard time finding a replacement for Erdogan.

Painted as criminals
coup.....
popular support
coup.........

something seems weird here.

[Deleted]

Painted as criminals
coup.....
popular support
coup.........

something seems weird here.

New governments often get the support of the people once the coups that led them to power succeeded and when coups get the support of the people, they rarely are perceived as crimes, regardless of wether they are crimes or not. Leaders are rarely killed during the course of coups, most of the time, they're kept alive so they can stand trial.

[Tennis]

Excuse me but where did I mention mass murder? Oh right I didn't I said that they tend to be violent.

What does that have to do with a leader being assassinated exactly?

[Deleted]

Can we stop with the conspiracy theories and just accept that it was a shitty and ill planned coup?

Have you heard of provocateurs? The atmosphere a coup are there, some agents loyal of the goverment encourages peopel to act, like this Colonel guy.... the coup fail becuse it act premature.....so the coup was real but might never have happen if the provocateur was never there.

Now the Erdogan have a excuse to strengthen his control and remove political opponents.

[ParanoiD84]

Strangest part is that the escort planes did not engage them, almost like they where all in on it.

[JohnnyRockets]

The worst thing you could do is staging a coup against a government that the people support.

[Darkfie1d]

Those planes had Erdogan in their sights, but he also had jets escorting him... and they did not fire at the coup controlled planes

This really seems staged. Thousands are being purged from the government, judges, advisers, government officials, judges, etc. Erdogan has a free pass to get rid of anyone who may have even looked at him the wrong way in the past.

We will never have all the facts, but to me it was a coup and it was Erdogan's coup. He now has full control.