In 2016 the attempt by Turkish secularist forces to overthrow the ruling AK party and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was thwarted. Eventually, charges were brought against generals and admirals who orchestrated the attempt, which resulted in over 200 dead and the rounding up of over two thousand members of the Turkish military as conspirators.
A month after the attempt, Erdogan organized and held an “anti-coup” rally in Istanbul that reportedly turned out a million plus citizens, and was presided over by Erdogan and the leaders of the two opposition parties, the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).
Devlet Bahçeli, chair of the MHP then and now, this week addressed rumors that plans for another attempt might be underway.
“I warn those with disgusting intentions,” he said in an address to the party. “If Turkey faces another attempt of occupation and another catastrophe, then no one among the criminals and traitors will be left alive.”
“We will scratch the eyes out of those who have their eyes on our existence,” he said.
Bahçeli, after the last attempt, phoned Erdogan to express his party’s rejection of the coup and support for Erdogan’s quashing of the attempt.
Rumors of a second coup attempt reached the highest level when Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said on CNN Türk that the same forces, allegedly aligned with U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gülen, were actively making plans.
“They have plans for a new coup and assassinations,” said Soylu during the broadcast.
The nation is undergoing elections this month.
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