Friday, February 26, 2010

Turkey Coup-Plot Raids Spark Fears of Military Reprisal - TIME

"In Turkey, a Showdown Between the Government and Military
By Pelin Turgut / Istanbul

On a quiet morning two years ago, residents of the Danish town of Jyderup awoke to an unusual sight: a military tank driving down their main street. The tank baffled the Danes at first, but then they laughed and cheered and generally acted as if a circus had come to town. A Turkish artist, Koken Ergun, had organized the stunt to make a point: most Westerners have no idea of what it means to wake up to a coup, with tanks rumbling through the streets, TV stations seized and a sense of fear in the air. Yet it is an all too familiar memory in Turkey, which has experienced four coups in the last 60 years carried out by military commanders who see themselves as guardians of the secular order."

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