Can Merey

It was a mild summer’s evening, with the weekend ahead, when military jets began bombing targets in Ankara and tanks rumbled through the streets of Istanbul, with troops firing on civilians.

Elements of the Turkish military had launched a coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. It was July 15, 2016, one year ago.

The year since has brought major changes to Turkey. Erdogan is more powerful than ever and he and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) are using the anniversary as a demonstration of that authority.

Starting Tuesday, commemorations of the event of a year ago are set to roll on across the country for the next six days.

The climax will come with Erdogan’s address to parliament in Ankara early on Sunday morning, starting at precisely 02:32 am (2332 GMT Saturday) - the moment when the coup instigators bombed the building.

A special call to prayer will sound from the minarets of 90,000 mosques, just as during the night of the attempted coup, when the muezzin came out against the plotters.

The AKP is organizing “Democracy Guards” as it did a year ago, when those opposed to the coup occupied public squares, so as not to leave them to the coup plotters.

Erdogan believes he knows precisely who was behind the coup attempt: Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen, a close ally of his until a public breach in 2013. Gulen lives in exile in the United States.

Gulen denies having anything to do with the attempt to topple his former associate. Doubts have also been expressed in the West.

The head of Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service, Bruno Kahl, caused irritation in Ankara when he told Der Spiegel news magazine earlier this year that Turkish officials had attempted to convince his officers of Gulen’s involvement, “but they have not succeeded.”

Many questions continue to hang over last year’s events. For example, many are still unclear about when Turkish authorities became aware of the plans to stage a coup.

The opposition has called it a “controlled coup,” alleging the government let it play out so they could take advantage of the situation.

On the morning after, Erdogan described the failed coup as “a gift

from God.” He soon declared a state of emergency allowing him to rule by decree.

The resulting purges have still not abated, targeting not only those directly involved and those linked to Gulen, but also taking in other critics of the government. Accusations of involvement in terrorism are made, often under questionable circumstances.

More than 100,000 civil servants have been suspended, more than 50,000 people are in jail.

Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the opposition Kemalist Republican People’s Party (CHP) refers to Erdogan as a “dictator,” accusing him of abusing the state of emergency to carry out a “second coup, a civilian coup.”

“Injustice, arbitrariness and discrimination have become defining features of the AKP regime,” Kilicdaroglu wrote in Britain’s Guardian newspaper.

Among those arrested are the head of the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP), Selahattion Demirtas, along with several parliamentary representatives.

The CHP has also been affected, with one of its parliamentary representatives, Enis Berberoglu, recently sentenced to 25 years in prison for divulging state secrets. That sentence prompted Kilicdaroglu to launch a Justice March from Ankara to Istanbul.

Tens of thousands joined the march, even though the government suggested terrorism was at work. At its conclusion on Sunday, hundreds of thousands attended the final rally in Istanbul to hear Kilicdaroglu demand an end to the state of emergency and the release of parliamentary representatives and journalists.

Turkey has detained more than 150 journalists - more than any other country.?Some are accused of trying to overthrow the state, others face terrorism charges.

Since the attempted coup, a referendum has converted the country from

a parliamentary to a presidential system, which Erdogan’s opponents see as yet another step towards one-man rule.

The president appears more securely entrenched than ever. But Turkey is divided as seldom before. Relations with the European Union, and particularly Germany, which is home to a large Turkish minority, have deteriorated.

The German government blocked Erdogan’s attempt to hold a rally while attending last week’s Hamburg G20, a step without precedent between official allies within NATO. The Netherlands and Austria have taken similar steps, blocking rallies to mark the anniversary of the attempted coup.

And the European Parliament last week called for Turkey’s EU accession talks - which are in any case stalled - to be formally suspended.

Erdogan has no intention of allowing this to spoil the party. Invitations have gone out to the foreign press calling on them to take part in the “anniversarial events of such great importance for the democracy.”—DPA