A July night

10 years have passed since the July 15 uprising. Turkey experienced a great catastrophe that night. Some members of the Fetullahist organization within the Armed Forces knew they would be purged before the upcoming Supreme Military Council (YAŞ) meeting. They attempted a coup to preempt this. I wrote "some" because, in the years following that date, thousands of people were dismissed from both the military and other public duties as a result of investigations and trials. 

While the public taking to the streets was important, their failure to find sufficient support within the military caused this cursed attempt to fail.

Following the uprising that occurred after 2016, significant changes were made in the Armed Forces. The military judiciary and health system were largely dismantled. Military high schools were closed. Higher education began to be conducted by the National Defense University (MSÜ). With the changes made to the conscription system, as of 2026, if you have approximately 475 thousand TL, you can fulfill this obligation with one month of training. 

While experts in the field have differing opinions on the pros and cons of the changes mentioned above, there is almost a complete consensus that it would be beneficial to reorganize the military health system as it was before July 15.

According to information available on the internet, as of July 15, 2016, half of the total 358 active-duty admirals and generals were convicted on the grounds that they took part in the uprising. For nearly 50 years, with the knowledge of politics and the bureaucracy, these organization members nested within the Armed Forces and finally took action, thinking they had reached the power to stage a coup. For those who today curse this organization and its deceased leader with grand words, the words they spoke and the support they gave in the past remain in the archives as documents of shame. Let us say a few people might have been deceived due to good intentions, but could a whole state with its various institutions have failed to see this organization? 

It is clear that the organization is actually an espionage network used by foreign states. It is enough to look at where their leader lived and managed his organization until his death, and in which countries his fugitive members live. It is known that they received support from foreign military bases in our country on the night of July 15 and tried to take refuge in these bases afterward.

There is a relationship that is difficult to explain and manage for the Republic of Turkey. On one side, there is an organization that we define as a parallel state structure and a terrorist organization. On the other side, there is our ally, the USA, and NATO, which it leads. When it is obvious that those who rebelled against the constitutional order are being protected by the aforementioned state and organization, how can trust and loyalty, the first rule of alliance and partnership, be ensured? It cannot be ensured. 

If we were to tell such a scenario to any American, what do you think they would think? Half of the admirals and generals serving in the US Armed Forces are affiliated with an organization led by a primary school graduate, deranged preacher living in Moscow or Beijing. These organization members start by closing bridges in the country's most populous city one night and bomb the CIA Headquarters and the White House. The rebellion is suppressed, but the US continues its cooperation and alliance with the states where the organization is protected and sheltered as if nothing had happened. 

Doesn't sound acceptable at all, does it?

The history of military coups, rebellions, and uprisings in Turkey did not begin with the Republican era. In the Ottoman Empire, there were sultans who were deposed in events that could be described as coups. Osman II (Young Osman), Selim III, Mehmed IV, Abdülaziz, and Abdülhamid II are examples of this. The effort to blame every negative event on the Republic, as done by some, is baseless and unfounded. Changes in power and regime have often occurred through armed force. Every era has its own conditions. 

To understand military coups in Turkey, it is necessary to evaluate the political and military alliances that have been ongoing for 80 years. In particular, examining the class, political, and economic content of March 12 and September 12 will lead us to the real culprit. It will be understood for which order the coup stick was used to dominate in Turkey.