The Anatomy of the Turkish Coup d’Etat

What’s the big deal?

After almost a month, tens of thousands of teachers, soldiers, and government officials have been suspended or simply fired for no reason besides being suspected of having anything to do with the overthrow attempt. This has been done with no presumption of innocence or a court of law. This has been done simply because the current president of Turkey just decided so. Nevermind the fact that a president in Turkey is basically like the Queen of England – she tries to smile and does a lot of waving but those are basically her royal duties. Ceremonial is the word here. For a long time the prime minister was the person to run the country in Turkey. It just so happens that Recep Tayyip Erdogan has already been prime minister for over a decade and since 2014 has been elected president. Clearly he cannot get over his old habits. John Oliver and Tom Ballard deliver the super funny, while Chris Stephenson (a British academic accused in Turkey of ‘terror propaganda’) shares his professional opinion.