The military coup in Turkey was crushed by the will of the people who preferred democracy over martial law. But another one, more sinister, that the first is underway. President Recep Erdogan has used the situation to clamp a three-month emergency, arrest suspected coup plotters, sack or suspend thousands of policemen, prosecutors, judges, academicians and teachers. So deep is the purge that some think it has gone beyond the need to preserve the security of Turkey. Instead, it would seem Erdogan is grossly misusing the support of the people to undermine the freedom that they sought to protect by coming out on the streets on July 15 to stop army tanks. Nothing can be more ironical than the crackdown unfolding in Turkey. There is a lot about the aborted coup that remains unknown. The faces behind it remain blurry. Was it the reaction of old-style secularists who made a last ditch effort to prevent the country from slipping into a dictatorship? Was it led by followers of exiled Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen? It is still a mystery. What is becoming increasingly clear is that Turkey is hurtling down a treacherous road with Erdogan acting as the piped piper.
