Erdogan shouldn't congratulate himself too hard for the military coup's failure – dark days are ahead

As a botched attempt at an undemocratic military coup took place in Turkey on Friday night, confusion reigned, jets flew overhead, and military vehicles took to the streets of Istanbul and Ankara. Soon, however, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan delivered a live FaceTime address to the nation, calling on people to take to the streets to overturn the coup and defend democracy. The result left 265 dead, 1,440 wounded and the return of Erdoğan’s democratically elected government.

This reads like a people’s success story: unlike the jubilant crowds that met the tanks in Turkey’s 1960, 1971 and 1980 coups, this time, the Turkish public responded with a firm “no”. Turkey’s opposition parties – usually vehemently opposed to Erdoğan’s AK Party – hurriedly rallied to denounce the coup attempt and state their commitment to democracy on Saturday. Many international heads of state, the UN, and NATO called for the continuation of Turkey’s democratically elected government. The people’s will had triumphed over militarism.

But while the Turkish government congratulates itself and its loyal 51 per cent for a historical night of defending democracy, this feels far from a victory for Turkey’s secular and minority groups. Secular Turkish Muslims, non-Muslims, non-Sunnis, Kurds, LGBT individuals, dissenting journalists, academics, and others who wish to see Erdoğan step down through due democratic process after 12 years of rule fear that Friday’s events will only sow deeper division in Turkish society.

No one wants the instability and civilian oppression that martial law brings, but many Turks have long been hoping in vain for a truly democratic government, one that, in the true definition of the term, listens to the 49 per cent who happen to disagree with the Islamist and authoritarian direction of the ruling party. It has now long been the case in Turkey that, when the word “democracy” is used by the state, the calling card is coming out: it directly means their sustained electoral majority, and this justifies whatever is next to come. Democracy has become shorthand for a majority with homogenous values having the right to decide the fate of a diverse and increasingly demoralised minority.

Yesterday’s show of democracy was therefore not only questionable in label, but its aftermath looks set to be, too. The government’s heavy-handed clampdown has already begun. A remarkable 2,839 army members, and 2,745 judges and prosecutors have been detained within 24 hours: assuming all arrests are based on solid impartial evidence, it is an intelligence feat of astounding accuracy and speed, which Turkey’s recent failures to detect terrorist plots suggests unlikely. The sheer numbers bear the hallmarks of a purge, as any unlawful arrests fall through the cracks. Erdoğan has also regained some international sympathy, while bolstering a domestic support base that had temporarily waned due to tensions about Syrian refugees.

The frightening violence of Erdoğan’s supporters in their so-called caretaking of democracy on Friday night; the rhetoric of democracy and majoritarianism that Erdoğan uses interchangeably without qualm; and the pursuit of vengeance over mercy in the aftermath marks this failed coup as the start of darker days for Turkish democracy.