If you follow the news at all, you’ve probably heard about the attempted military coup in Turkey. If you're anything like the average American, you probably know very little about this Middle Eastern nation. But here’s the thing: Turkey is one of the largest nations in the world (19th by population, 18th by GDP, and 36th by land) and one of our strongest allies in the Middle East, not to mention one of the border countries separating Europe from ISIL. So it’s high time everyone learned a little something about our friends in Eurasia.
Turks aren’t Arabs, they don’t speak Arabic, and they won’t be happy with you if you make this mistake.
I’m putting this first because it’s a pretty basic detail that I’ve seen a lot of people get wrong. Americans have a tendency to label all Middle Easterners as Arabs, but this just isn’t accurate. In fact, there is a strong and long standing anti-Arab sentiment Turkey. Most Turks are ethnically Turkish and speak Turkish. The Turkish language has no relation Arabic (although there are a few loan words, and written Turkish used the Arabic alphabet in Ottoman times), and belongs in its own language family called Turkic. The Turks themselves are descendants of a nomadic warrior people who migrated to the area from the steppes of Central Asia.
The largest (and most violently oppressed) minority are the Kurds.
Exact numbers are unknown, because the Turkish government doesn’t gather information on ethnicity in the census, but Kurds probably make up somewhere between 18 percent and 25 percent of the population. The Turkish government has violently suppressed Kurds in a number of ways, including intermittent bans on the use of the Kurdish language, the destruction of Kurdish villages and the displacement of Kurdish people, the withholding of basic human rights and necessities such as food and water, crackdowns on pro-Kurdish activists, and the mass murder of Kurdish civilians. Most recently, in response to the growing strength of a movement to create an independent Kurdistan, the Turkish government, in conjunction with militant anti-Kurdish groups, has essentially declared war on the Southeastern region of Turkey in which the majority of Kurds live. The death toll is unclear due to the suppression of the press, but human rights organizations have discovered that historic cities have been demolished, many people have had their water shut off, and Turkish blockades have been set up in many Kurdish towns. Civilians have been gunned down in the streets and been burned alive in their own homes. When loved ones have attempted to retrieve these bodies, they have been gunned down as well.
Since its inception as a republic, Turkey has struggled between Islam and secularism.
The Republic of Turkey was founded in 1923, with Mustafa Kemal Atatürk at the helm. Atatürk led Turkish forces against the Western colonial powers during the Turkish War of Independence. Atatürk’s surprising victory made him one of the most respected, beloved, and powerful figures in the Middle East, meaning that he had ability to make sweeping and often relatively unpopular reforms. In particular, Atatürk championed Westernization. Amongst other reforms, Atatürk banned the hijab on state property, appointed female government officials, expanded education, and ensured that the state would be a secular entity. Atatürk’s popularity allowed him to enact these reforms, but they have controversial since their inception. Atatürk remains incredibly popular in the country (to a degree that has no comparison in the U.S.-- the best example I can make is to tell you to imagine a combination of George Washington, Jesus, and Martin Luther King, Jr.) , but Islamist tensions have left the country deeply divided. Secularists fear that the Islamists are taking over, as evidenced by the election of Erdoğan who has strong Islamist ties and conservative views. Islamists fear that the secularists are taking over, as evidenced by the growing numbers of secular youth.
Turkey has recently been the target of many terrorist attacks.
Turkey has long had issues with terrorists, particularly militant Kurdish groups, but the last year has seen a particularly devastating uptick in the number of attacks and the deadliness of those attacks. Almost all of these were executed by ISIL or in relation to the Kurdish independence movement. The most deadly attack in modern Turkish history took place last October, when two suicide bombers killed more than a hundred people at pro-Kurdish rally in Ankara. Erdoğan has been blamed by many for this sharp rise in attacks, with opponents claiming that he has done far too little to control Kurdish rebels and fight ISIL.
Erdoğan has been consolidating his power and suppressing free speech.
Since Erdoğan first became prime minister in 2003, he has been finding ways to expand his influence and silence dissenters. Erdoğan has been accused of electoral fraud, corruption, human rights abuses, and suppression of dissenters, and a good deal of evidence exists to support each of these claims. He has used a law banning “defamation of Turkishness” to imprison professors, journalists, and activists who have spoken out against him. He also enacted laws giving the executive branch much greater power over the courts, essentially crippling the power of the judiciary and bringing him much closer to absolute power. These actions have led many opposition members to refer to him as a dictator. In fact, many have accused him of staging the coup as an excuse to grab even more power.
