Turkish Coup Plotters Lost the Battle of Perception

A military coup attempt by what appears to be a conspiracy within the Turkish military has failed. At least 265 people are dead and one of the strongest NATO armies, dealing with the fallout of the civil war in Syria, is in chaos.

It’s unclear who precisely within the military was behind the coup attempt, the most violent intervention of the armed forces in Turkish politics since 1980. The exact reasons are opaque, although the military — with a strong attachment to secularism — has been averse to the Islamist politics of Pres. Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

There is little, doubt, however, that the coup attempt has collapsed and hundreds of soldiers have been taken into custody. Turkish military chief Gen. Umit Dundar said “the coup attempt was rejected by the chain of command immediately.”

It also seems the plotters failed to secure one the first major targets of military coups — the means of communication. Although they did try.

During the opening hours of the putsch, access to services including Twitter, Facebook and YouTube were intermittent or available only through proxy servers — indicating a possible attempt to shut off access. But this failed to prevent Turkish civilians and journalists from uploading a deluge of video footage of the coup attempt as it was underway.

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