Erdogan Blames Coup but Blocks Investigation

Although Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan cites the failed coup d’état of July 2016 as justification for his wide array of emergency powers and draconian moves against tens of thousands of political foes, news organizations and members of the security services, opponents are complaining that he is preventing a proper probe into the attempt to overthrow him. The head of the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) insists Erdogan is using the coup to hide the truth and instead “write a fabricated history.” Those members of the judiciary who try to investigate the coup could easily find themselves among more than one hundred thousand public workers who have lost their jobs, among them thousands of fellow judiciary members, and the 50,000 who have been jailed by Erdogan whose power to do so emanates from the emergency powers he wields, predicated upon the coup. Erdogan continues to lay blame to cleric-in-exile Fathulla Gulen, who lives Pennsylvania, USA. For his part, Gulen vehemently denies the charges. Erdogan foes assert that the president’s use of emergency powers to purge the government is itself a “controlled coup.”