Democratic Europe should now fear for Turkey

Turkey’s government is democratically elected, but the true test of its democracy – as if another one were needed – will come now, with Erdogan’s handling of the failed coup and the destiny of the soldiers who took part in it.

They are seriously at risk. They are not invading foreign military personnel but fellow Turks with families in Turkey. Yet it seems obvious already that they are going to be treated completely mercilessly. Democratic Europe, which was quick to put its support behind the democratically-elected government of Turkey in statements last night, must make it clear that it will not condone or ignore any further violations of human rights by Erdogan’s government.

The fundamental point at issue here – and this regardless of the coup d’état – is that being democratically elected does not give a government the right to behave undemocratically. History is replete with examples of democracy being used for undemocratic ends.

More than 190 people were killed in Turkey’s main cities, Ankara and Istanbul, last night. Of these, 104 were described by forces loyal to Recep Tayyip Erdogan as “coup plotters”. The BBC reports that more than 1,500 military officers and men have been detained, and five generals have been “suspended”, with Erdogan describing the coup as “an act of treason”.

Broadcast footage showed scenes of terrified ordinary soldiers giving themselves up with their hands in the air, only to be attacked by the crowd. These soldiers will simply have obeyed their commanding officer in a very confusing situation, but their fate is now going to be a dreadful one.

Mehmet Muezzinoglu, deputy head of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), said that the government may well bring back the death penalty for those who took part in the coup. That this would happen was immediately clear to me from Erdogan’s announcement that the coup constituted “treason”. Historically, the punishment for treason in almost every jurisdiction of the world has been the death penalty.

Erdogan is also shoring up his position by inciting mob rage against those who sought to overthrow him last night. #Idamistiyorum (“I want the death penalty”) has become the top trend on Twitter in Turkey, with the hashtag used more than 23,000 times so far this morning.

Making matters even worse and more dangerous, the President’s Office has called on Erdogan’s supporters to take to the streets this evening, tweeting: “Regardless at what stage this attempt is, we need to be in the streets tonight. A new coup attempt could take place any minute.”

His need to protect himself and his position of power is more important to him than the safety of civilians and maintaining as much calm as possible.

The situation in Turkey can no longer be ignored by people in Europe on the basis that Erdogan was elected democratically. As one Turkish writer interviewed some weeks ago by the BBC World Service said: “Democracy is not a vote once every five years. Critics of the government, journalists and writers are being harassed and slandered by government media; they are being arrested and imprisoned; they are being silenced. That is not democracy.”

Soldiers who took part in the failed coup are attacked by the crowd.