“The number of post-coup arrests in Turkey means that it was probably a genuine overthrow attempt but it has been used to roll out purges that had been planned beforehand. Because obviously it is impossible that within a couple of days after the coup, that many people could have been genuinely implicated and that there could be proof of that,” Erik Zurcher, a renowned historian and Professor of Turkish Studies at the University of Leiden, told Radio Sputnik.
“Obviously it is being used to carry out a scenario invovling long lists of people which have already been drawn up, the lists of those who have been targeted,” he added.
“So now it is a very thorough purge of the whole state system and I expect that to continue for the next few months,” he further suggested.
The historian also referred to the Turkish coup of 1980, which also saw hundreds of professors, teachers and academics arrested afterwards. They managed to return to their normal lives but it took them years, up to 6-7 years, he said. So it does not necessarily mean that all those arrested this time will necessarily be jailed or executed, but it will definitely take them a long time to return to their normal lives.
“The aim here is to create a completely loyal state system, including the media and the educational system. As soon as these people are out and replaced with loyalists, the aim will have been achieved,” Zurcher suggested.
With regards to his suggestion that it was a genuine attempt at an overthrow, the historian noted that it was an attempt not by the army but probably by a faction within the army or a number of factions collaborating within the army.
They certainly made a huge number of mistakes, he noted.
On the other hand, he explained, one can also see that the government had a very well-determined strategy of how to counter the coup.
Erdogan did manage to re-establish contact with the media and speak to his followers. The Mosques in Turkey played a crucial role in mobilizing the people and bringing them into the streets.
The way that happened shows that while the government was in a panic in the early stages of the coup, they had been preparing for this eventuality, that they knew that something like this might happen. Although probably not the moment it would happen.
