Why We'll Never Get a Full Accounting of Turkey's Failed Coup

It was a wild, confusing night of gunfire, unscheduled calls to prayer and sonic booms in Istanbul. But with an nontransparent government, a media that's state controlled or under pressure, and wide-scale purges, Erdogan's narrative will be hard to challenge.

Jul 17, 2016 11:20 PM

On Friday night just after 10pm my cellphone started buzzing and the deluge of WhatsApp messages started. “Go home immediately!” After that: “Turkey is in the midst of a coup d’ tat!”

Comments

Sign in to join the conversation.

Sort comments by

1

ICYMI

Issachar “Yiska” Shadmi, right, following his trial. From the documentary series "Tkuma: Israel's First 50 Years."

General's Final Confession Links 1956 Massacre to Israel's Secret Plan to Expel Arabs

Daniel Kahneman. "People don’t want to be happy the way I’ve defined the term – what I experience here and now."

Why Nobel Prize Winner Daniel Kahneman Gave Up on Happiness

Russian radar image claiming to show Israeli F-16 (in yellow) next to Russian Il-20 spyplane (in red) that Syria shot down

Russia Fabricated the Radar Image: Israeli Version of Spyplane Downing

The Arous brochure for European tourists.

The Mossad Ran a Fake Diving Resort for Tourists in Sudan. This Is the Incredible Story Behind It

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Knesset. July 2018

The Israel You Know Just Ended. You Can Thank Netanyahu

This bone fragment ('Denisova 11') was found in 2012 at Denisova Cave in Russia by Russian archaeologists and represents the daughter of a Neanderthal mother and a Denisovan father.

Evolution's Holy Grail: 90,000-year-old Hybrid Teenager Stuns Science World

Illustration: A map.

A Golden Age for the Mossad: More Targets, More Ops, More Money

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a bilateral meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S., September 26, 2018.

Netanyahu Reignites the Leftist’s Dilemma

Netanyahu, Putin and an S-300 missile

Analysis With Russia's S-300 in Syria, Israel Will Have to Think Twice About the Next Strike

Satellite image shows damage caused by alleged Israeli missile strike on targets near Syria's Latakia.

Downing of Russian Jet: Israel Fears Putin Will Clip Its Wings in Syria

US President Donald Trump listens to officials at the Horry County Emergency Operations Center in Conway, South Carolina, September 19, 2018

Donald Trump Thinks the Jews Aren't Grateful Enough

File photo: Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem.

Syria Strike: Putin Forgives, but What About Iran?

U.S. President Donald Trump speaking during a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, September 26, 2018.

Israel’s Isolation as an Adoring Trumpland

File photo: Pre-election posters with pictures of Ukrainian Prime Minister and presidential candidate Yulia Tymoshenko (L) and Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovich seen in central Kiev January 29, 2010.

In Ukraine, Manafort's Israel Link Met With Silence

Benjamin Netanyahu climbs out after a visit inside the Rahav, the fifth submarine in the fleet, after it arrived in Haifa port January 12, 2016

Israel Gives China Keys to Its Largest Port. The U.S. Navy May Abandon Israel

White House Adviser Jared Kushner (L), Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (C), Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R)

How Kushner Played Matchmaker Between Israel and Saudi Arabia

Russian Navy frigate Admiral Essen sails in the Bosphorus, on its way to Syria, in Istanbul, Turkey August 25, 2018

Iran, Russia Prepare to Battle Each Other Over Control of Post-war Syria

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during a fundraiser in Brampton, Ontario, Canada, July 5, 2018

How the Saudis Made Canada the Loneliest Country in the World

Prime Minister Benjaim Netanyahu addressing a cybersecurity conference in Tel Aviv, June 2018.

This Was Bibi's Best Year. Next Year Could Be His Worst

Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the U.K. opposition Labour Party, listens to a speech at the party's annual conference in Brighton, U.K., on Monday, Sept. 28, 2015.

Why Corbynism Is a Threat to Jews Throughout the Western World