A major possibility that the whole thing is a sham staged by Erdogan to make sure he gets his dictatorship having crushed all opposition.>>

great minds, OC. My commiserations that Turkey is in a state of flux once again, and relief that you are safe - I had forgotten that you were in the US. did you have advance warning perchance?

Well, if it wasn't a sham, it seems to have been a pretty feeble effort. Undoubtedly worse than not trying.

The name of our guide in Istanbul was named Sham, interesting

A black hawk helicopter of the turkish army landed in Alexandroupolis, a Greek city close to the turkish border.
The 8 crew members requested asylum, which has to be decided from the greek authorities.

The turkish government asked officially for the return of the helicopter.

I just heard! Oh, the irony

Turkish military seeking asylum in Greeve


You can't make this stuff up

Never let a crisis go to waste. Erdogan now has an excuse for a Stalinist purge of anyone who might disagree with him and to attack whoever he wants.

According to the BBC 2,700 judges have been fired for alleged links to the coup. Purge apparently underway....

Jack Cade was only half right

200 of those fired have already been arrested, and might face the death penalty

Send in the Butcher

According to the BBC 2,700 judges have been fired for alleged links to the coup. Purge apparently underway....>>

he had already locked up some lawyers for defending "unpopular" causes, and then locked up the lawyers who tried to defend their colleagues. sacking judges who might disagree with him seems to be the next logical step.

Looks like Istanbul Ataturk airport is operating again, although with some significant delays.

I was planning to go to Turkey next year! I will watch and wait...glad I had not booked anything yet.

Christy, please let us know what happens with your flight.

I don't even want to connect in IST now, let alone visit

So far there is no death penalty in Turkey.

However, dissenters have been tortured and killed in Turkish prisons, sometimes by just withholding critical medicine or hospitalisation.

United States published a ban to all flights to and from Turkey. In direct travel originating in Turkey is not allowed also.

We seem to be stuck in Chicago, just as we were stuck in London during the Iceland volcanic ash occasion. It is too early to call THY to find out what their solution is, but will do so Sunday and/or Monday.

In the meantime, fundamentalists are still called to hit the streets, even by text messages to their mobile phones. No reason is given, but it is apparent that this is the group of people Erdogan was talking about during Gezi Protests 3 years ago when he said "I may not be able to hold them back".

Now he does not wish to hold them bak. We have some news of Islamists attacking people drinking beer or wine at a restaurant and an Alevite group demonstrating for human rights being attacked by islamists. Also many cases of undercover police insulting people on the streets of istanbul.

The video footage of surrendering GI s being lynched by the Islamists tells a great deal of what we may be facing in the near future.

However, I and Eser still look forward, as I tweeted earlier :

"This morn from the 50th floor, I noticed 2 bright blue wagons of a train passing a mile away. Hoping this is an indication for our future."

#otherchelebi glad to know you and Eser are well and in USA during this upheaval. If the judges are sacked, journalists and tweeters won't have protection of law, stay safe.

I'm glad to see you are ok too, Otherchelebi. The world is watching this, whatever it is, with dismay.

All the best to you & yours.

Thanks all.

Here's a good article on the current situation without giving gory details of lynching of surrendering soldiers and torture of all arrested military personnel.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/07/18...il0=y&referer=

Good article, otherchelebi. Thank you. So happy to hear you and your family are safe. So sorry for your beautiful country.

Otherchelebi, good to hear from you. As I said on another thread about this, it all seems to have ended suspiciously quickly...one thinks of that line from the film, 'Casablanca' - "round up the usual suspects".

That said, the NYT wisely warns against conspiracy theories:

http://mobile.nytimes.com/comments/2...hat-wasnt.html

oops sorry otherchelebi, that's the same article to which you linked. Great minds think alike...(we will overlook that fools seldom differ... ;) )