That’s what a lot of smart people, included a former CIA station chief for Turkey, are saying. They believe Erdogan planned the coup himself as cover for seizing more power. And then there’s this from Politico:
A Playbooker well-wired with contacts in Turkey emails us: “This military action is a direct correlation to President Erdogan’s slow but steady focus on de-constructing the legacy of Ataturk and undoing Ataturk’s dream of a secular Muslim society and to replace it with a Islamic society based on fear. The President’s recent removal of the Prime Minister (with little international focus or concern) which was done against the constitution, his overhaul of the judiciary to put it under his control (that was unconstitutional), his recent speeches on women being ‘half-human’ if they don’t have babies and stay home to focus on having children, his push to create non-secular religious schools, his arrest of thousands of journalists, and his take-over of what was once a thriving free media with only one private, independent media still existing … and last but not least, his attempt now to change the constitution so he could be President forever. … All of these … forced the hand of the Military to want to overthrow the Erdogan regime and try to hold onto the last elements of Ataturk’s Turkey.”
