How has Turkiye fended since the July 2016 attempted coup? – Middle East Monitor

Turkiye has been very busy this July, not only has it welcomed thousands of tourists mainly from the Gulf countries for their summer holidays; a number of political events have been taking place there. Foremost amongst those has been the dismantlement of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).  The PKK was founded by Abdullah Ocalan in 1978.  Ocalan a Marxist-Leninist separatist launched an armed struggle against the Turkish state in 1984. The organisation’s main objectives were to create a Kurdish state on Turkish territory.  In May 2025 the PKK announced that it was disbanding its activities and will be handing over its weapons for destruction. The handing over of weapons by the fighters of the PKK started days ago and have dominated the news better part of the week of 15 July 2025 overshadowing other significant political events.

There was also the fighting between the Arab Bedouin and Druze minority in the city of Suwayda in Syria. The fighting left scores of people, mainly from the Druze community, dead and hundreds displaced. The relationship between Bedouin and Druze communities in Syria’s southern province of Suwayda has long been marked by complexity, alternating between periods of cooperation and violent confrontation.  Ever since the fall of Bashar al Assad in December 2024 Turkiye has been assisting in the rebuilding of the infrastructure and socio-political fabric of Syria.  Therefore, whatever political events occurring in Syria resonate within Turkiye as was the conflict in Suwayda.  What further amplified the news about Suwayda was the Israeli attack on the Syrian military headquarters in Damascus, Syria.  Israel claimed that the attack was in retaliation for the attack on the Druze community in Suwayda.  The Israeli attack in Damascus caused extensive damage to infrastructure, killed and injured scores of Syrians.  Turkey condemned the attack and accused Israel of wanting to derail the development and construction of a new political order in Syria.  According to the official statement from the Turkiye’s foreign ministry, “Israel’s attacks on Damascus, following its military interventions in the south of Syria, constitute an act of sabotage against Syria’s efforts to secure peace, stability, and security”.

Importantly, for the past 9 years the people of Turkiye have been commemorating the attempted coup on the 15th July. Turkiye witnessed the bloodiest coup attempt in its modern history on 15 July 2016, when a faction of the Turkiye military launched a coordinated attempt to topple President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government.  The Turkiye government has blamed Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish cleric and businessman who lived in self-imposed exile in the state of Pennsylvania in the US until his death on 20 October 2024, for plotting the coup with his followers. The Turkish government calls Gulen’s network the Fethullah Terrorist Organisation (FETO).  The 15th July 2016 attempted coup dramatically changed the politics of Turkiye.  The overwhelming rejection of the coup by the people of Turkiye communicated a clear message to the world, Turkiye does not have appetite for coups anymore.  Since the establishment of the modern Turkish Republic, Turkiye has had three coups before the attempted coup in 2016. In 1960 Prime Minister Adnan Menderes was overthrown by the military.  Prime Minister Suleyman Demirel was forced to resigned amid economic turmoil and unrest in 1971.  There was also a toppling of the government in 1980 which resulted in mass arrests and torture of political opponents.  The last coup before the 2016 attempt was in 1997 when Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan was pressured to resign by the military.

On 15 July 2016 the Turkish people of all persuasions filled up the streets and prevented the coup from materialising. All Turkiye, even those who were vehemently against the leadership of AK Party and the leadership of Tayyip Erdogan joined in the streets to stop the coup.  It was indeed at that point when President Erdogan became a true leader of Turkiye.  The country became united behind his leadership, which gave him the power to implement changes in the political discourse of Turkiye for many years to come marking a new era in Turkiye’s politics.  In April 2017, the Turkish population narrowly approved the constitutional changes necessary to transition to a presidential system, by 51.4 per cent to 48.6 per cent.  Importantly, there was also a change of political leadership in Istanbul.  After 25 years of AK Party rule, it lost the elections to the Republican People’s Party (CHP).  The AKP’s candidate, former Prime Minister Binali Yildirim lost the mayoral elections of Istanbul to Mr Ekrem Imamoglu, of the Republican People’s Party (CHP).

Over and above the constitutional changes that led to the transition to the presidential system in parliament and political party changes in the mayorship of Istanbul, there were other notable changes in the political infrastructure in Turkiye.  The events of 15 July 2016 weakened the deep state that has always impacted and controlled Turkiye’s politics from behind the scenes. The Turkish phrase derin devlet literally means “deep state.”  According to historian Ryan Gingeras, the term “generally refers to a kind of shadow or parallel system of government in which unofficial or publicly unacknowledged individuals play important roles in defining and implementing state policy.”  The dismantling of the “Deep State” allowed further development of the democratic changes in Turkiye.  The grip of the deep state particularly the military elite that controlled the politics of Turkiye over the years, suffocated socio-political realities and possibilities in Turkiye.  The situation in Turkiye of 2025 is certainly a far cry from the Turkey of the pasts where politics was dominated by the deep state and the military apparatus as the “permanent occupiers of power”.

Finally, the failure of the attempted coup also served as a clear signal to other resistance movements inside Turkiye.  The masses in the country were sick and tired and had lost appetite for violent takeover of governments.  Coups and armed resistance to influence politics in Turkiye were no longer an option for the people of Turkiye.  Luqman Rezi a local political analyst argues that “it is this realisation that has led to the PKK to abandon armed resistance.  This realisation has also pushed the PKK to mainstream political contestation instead of violence”. Importantly though, the PKK’s political fortunes in the region have been rapidly weaning, particularly with the toppling of Bashar Al Assad and the liberation of Syria.  The entrenchment of Turkiye in the politics of the region after the fall of the regime of Bashar al Assad has been critical.  It can be argued therefore that the attempted coup of 15 July 2016 did not only unite the people of Turkiye against coups, it also assisted in entrenching and legitimised the power of President Erdogan and the AK Party. Significantly, it significantly weakened the deep state and altered the influence of the army in Turkiye forever.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.