by Eze Eluchie,
A common
theme and image that comes out from the now failed attempt to depose of the Tayyip
Erdogan-led government in Turkey, was the exceptional restraint shown by the
coupists when confronted by unarmed civilians. The soldiers, well armed, some
in fortified armoured tanks, occupying strategic positions that placed them,
generally, at an advantageous position from counter-attacks from other soldiers
who might want to oppose the coup, simply choose not to open fire on their
unarmed civilian compatriots.
There is no doubt
what would have transpired if the coupist-soldiers had been confronted by
equally armed soldiers - there would have been a bloody shoot-out that would
have further polarized the Turkish society and perhaps activated a hasty
descent into civil war.
The narrative
on the coup would, no doubt, have been quite different if the soldiers had upon
meeting resistance by unarmed civilians decided to shoot. The civilian would
have been massacred. The high fatalities recorded would have either spurred
greater resistance (or more bloodshed) or served to cow resistance and thus
ensure that the coup succeeded.
The refusal by the soldiers to stand their
grounds against unarmed civilians stands the coupist-soldiers as persons who
generally understand their role as defenders of the State/people and not robots
who simply obey the orders of their superiors. There clearly is a filial connection
between the People of Turkey and the Turkish Military.
Considering
that virtually all the key institutions of the Turkish State had been taken
over by the coupists or soldiers loyal to them within a few hours of the coup,
it will be clearly illusory for the present Turkish rulership to ascribe the
failure of the coup bid in any way to itself or its popularity.
What was the
secret? Turkey is broadly speaking a nation, as opposed to being a multi-national
contraption with every component of the contraption striving to outdo the other
even at the detriment of the whole.
What would
have been the outcome if a similar situation was to play out in a contraption,
as we have across Sub Sahara Africa, where the co-inhabitants feel foisted upon
each other and there is no sense of nationhood? The soldiers would have
gleefully shot, crushed and vanquished all unarmed civilians in their range. Going
by the way security operatives in most Sub Sahara African countries clearly look
forward to using live bullets on the population they are supposed to protect
and whose taxes found their existence, the nightmarish and bloody outcome of
physically blocking tanks, confronting armed coup plotters and their agents, in
such countries is not difficult to realize.
Until we
have nation-states in Africa, any group of opportunistic soldiers who have
access to requisite armoury with sufficient number of sadistic soldiers in
their midst who would not mind mowing down a couple of thousand civilians on
their path to power, can and will, under appropriate conditions, stage
successful coup d’etats. To prevent coup d'etats from reoccurring across Sub Sahara African states, the countries in that region simply have to be restructured to meet the qualities of nation-states.
Erdogan’s treatment
of the coupists who, rather than spill more Turkish
blood on Turkish streets, voluntarily surrendered, will go a long way to determine the eventual outcome
of the botched coup. The seeming survival of the Erdogan junta is merely a minuscule
temporary outcome.
Tomorrow yet comes.
Tomorrow yet comes.
Picture: Unarmed civilians
confront armed soldiers in Turkey.
