ECHO OF THE FAILED COUP

Turkey is going through a crucial moment of its modern history. The failure of the military coup finally seeks to establish the priority of civil power in the political system of the Kemalist state.

State of emergency

Ankara accuses the Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen residing in the United States for years in organizing the coup attempt. Judging by the statements of the Turkish authorities, a part of the army command under the influence of Gülen has encroached upon the constitutional order in the country in order to legitimize the so-called "parallel state", the existence of which in recent years has repeatedly lamented the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

According to official sources, 246 people were killed during the military coup, excluding the rebels. More than two thousand people were injured.

The government has declared a state of emergency in the country. In a matter of days following the attempted coup on July 16, 70 thousand people working in various fields have been fired. At least 12 thousand troops, including more than a hundred generals and admirals (one third of the command structure of the army), were arrested as suspects of the coup attempt. According to president Erdogan, the total number of detainees exceeds 13 thousand people. This includes more than 1,300 police officers, over 2,000 judges, and 700 attorneys. 283 soldiers of the presidential guard are arrested and the Turkish prime minister Binali Yildirim has announced a complete dissolution of this military structure. The assistant of Fethullah Gülen, Halis Hanci, who, according to widespread media reports, has arrived in the country just a few days before the coup, was detained by the Turkish special services.

Another aspect of the existing state of emergency regime is the invalidation of more than 10 thousand passports of Turkish citizens allegedly thought to escape the country.

The state of emergency gives the right to the president and the Turkish government to introduce new laws without parliamentary approval. Erdogan insists that the declared state of emergency is in line with the Constitution and he, as president and commander in chief, will work together with the military to liberate Turkey from the "virus". The head of state has made it clear that the arrests will continue. As part of the emergency, Erdogan has signed a law extending the period of detention without charge to 30 days. In addition, the Turkish president has instructed to close more than a thousand private schools and 15 private universities, as well as to cease the operations of 1229 charities and foundations, 35 health facilities, 19 trade unions, federations and confederations.

The Turkish government warns: the state of emergency is introduced for three months but if necessary, it will be extended beyond the announced deadline. It seems that the likelihood of an extension of this period is high, since Erdogan did not rule out a new coup attempt and referred to recent events in France, where the state of emergency has been maintained since the last November due to terrorist attacks shaking the country.

Erdogan has also appealed to the population to remain calm about the situation. Vowing to clear all state structures of Gülen supporters, he has expressed confidence that "Turkey got rid of this disease and was getting better".

Apparently, Erdogan will try to use the failed coup as another argument in favor of his long-cherished ideas to bolster his presidential powers and to transform Turkey from a parliamentary to a presidential republic.

International reaction

Meanwhile, the attempt of military coup in Turkey has caused a loud resonance in the world. No doubt that the reaction of the leading global centers will seriously affect the nature of their future relations with official Ankara. The prospects of the Turkish-American dialogue are, therefore, of particular importance.

The Turkish president has clearly expressed his dissatisfaction with the American position refusing to exile Gülen to Ankara. In response, the Obama administration is trying hard to show their willingness to provide comprehensive assistance in the investigation the coup attempt. However, the US leader has emphasized a need to hold investigations in accordance with "democratic procedures" and has indirectly expressed his discontent with the actions taken by the Turkish leadership. According to Washington and other western countries, these measures are overly stringent. Therefore, many experts predict cooling of and even a serious rift in US-Turkish relations. This is felt in the sensational statement of Erdogan, which implies that a country giving a shelter to Gülen and refusing to exile him to Ankara cannot be considered a friend of Turkey anymore.

An even greater alienation is brewing in the dialogue between Turkey and the European Union. After Erdogan’s statements about the restoration of the death penalty in Turkey, clearly implying his intention to achieve physical destruction of the rebels, Brussels has stated that the further movement of Ankara towards Europe was impossible. Since, according to EU representatives Federica Mogherini, and Günther Oettinger, the EU membership and the death penalty are not compatible.

Under these circumstances, when Turkey's dialogue with the West takes a very unpredictable nature, it is now clearly visible that Ankara’s relations with Tehran and Moscow, which unequivocally condemned the military coup in Turkey, will warm up. In a telephone conversation with the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Erdogan said: "We are determined in cooperation with Iran and Russia in order to solve regional problems and to significantly strengthen our efforts to bring back the peace and stability to the region". This message is especially important in the context of the normalization of Russian-Turkish dialogue, which began after the famous message of Erdogan to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

The Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has said that anti-constitutional coups are not acceptable and has expressed Moscow's readiness to continue works with the elected leadership of Turkey. This is a clear signal of Russia's intention to recover, at least, good-neighborly relations with Turkey deteriorated after the tragic incident with the shot-down of the Su-24 bomber aircraft.

Brotherly support

Given that the people of Turkey is going through such a dramatic period in its history, Azerbaijan has expressed its solidarity with the brotherly nation. During a telephone conversation with his Turkish colleague, the Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev has strongly condemned the attempted coup and has said that Azerbaijan, as always, will be with the brotherly Turkish people and the state. The Azerbaijani leader has expressed his confidence that no power could force Turkey to turn from the path of democracy and development.

Commenting on the situation, the Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of Azerbaijan, the Head of the Foreign Relations Department Mr. Novruz Mammadov said: "Same as the president, we had been following the processes in Turkey with a great concern. The whole of Azerbaijan is worried, which is natural. This coup attempt was against the will and choice of the Turkish people". Mammadov has reminded of friendly and fraternal relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey. "This means that Azerbaijan is always close to Turkey. Turkey is not the same country that was before. Such coup attempts cannot be realized, and the population does not welcome them. Today Turkey is led by the democratically elected president and the government. The people support them. I believe this coup will be remembered as the last in the history of the country", said the senior representative.

A convincing signal about the readiness of Azerbaijan to strengthen its strategic alliance with Turkey was a decree of the Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev, which allowed the Turkish armed forces to use the military facilities in Gizil Sharg and a terminal at a military airfield close to Baku. The media of some countries have tried to use this fact to disseminate information about an alleged Turkish military base in Azerbaijan. However, as stated by the Azerbaijani Deputy Minister of Defense and the Commander of the Air Force, Lieutenant-General Ramiz Tahirov, "information about the establishment of a military base of a foreign state on the territory of Azerbaijan has no ground and is completely unrealistic". He has further added that the airfield located in Taghiyev settlement has been used since 1999 to dispatch the Azeri military for international peacekeeping missions. Since the dispatch to Afghanistan and the transportation of troops back to Azerbaijan use transport aircraft of the Turkish Air Force, the airport is leased to the office of the Turkish military attache in Azerbaijan.

Despite the provocative attacks of enemies and Turkey’s alliance with Azerbaijan, it is clear that Ankara's role in geopolitics in the South Caucasus will increase. And apparently, the strengthening of Turkey's status as one of the largest regional players seeking to implement a policy independent from the global centers meets the interests of other great neighboring countries, which have traditionally had their own interests in the Caucasus. The failure of the coup d'etat can give new impetus to strengthening Ankara's stance in the international arena.

CHRONICLE OF EVENTS

On 15 and 16 July 2016, a part of the Turkish military forces attempted a coup in the country, taking control of a number of strategically important objects in the big cities. Events began on July 15, when the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was on vacation in Marmaris. Erdogan had to leave the hotel shortly before he was subject to assault of insurgents.

On the night of the 16^th and in the following morning, several F-16 fighters carried out a series of air strikes on the presidential palace and the parliament building in Ankara. On the same day, these buildings were stormed by tanks. Meanwhile, the insurgents took control over the international airports in Istanbul and Ankara, the bridges over the Bosphorus in Istanbul, the headquarters of the ruling party in Ankara, various state institutions and the main offices of TV channels. There were reports about a fire in the building of the National Intelligence Organization. During a televised speech, the insurgents have claimed that the General Staff of the armed forces had taken the power, and the Turkish government removed from power. They have soon declared the martial law and a curfew in the country.

President Erdogan has managed to get on television through one of the TV companies uncaptured at that moment and has stated that the military coup was illegal and has called his supporters to get out to the streets of Ankara and Istanbul to oppose the coup.

Since all of the country's police and the army remained loyal to the government, as well as the mass support of the people and the clergy, the coup has failed to keep the captured objects and to remain power. The combat aircraft used by insurgent military were hit. Some of the insurgents were killed while some of them fled to Greece in a helicopter.