Post coup, will Erdogan be embattled or embolden?
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Turkey awoke this morning to scenes of carnage and destruction, after an overnight coup attempt was quashed when president Recep Tayyip Erdogan used FaceTime to call on citizens to stop it.
The death toll rose to at least 265 around noon on July 16, when Prime Minister Benali Yildirim announced that 161 martyrs had been killed, in addition to at least 104 coup participants. More than 1,400 people were wounded, and about 2,800 arrested in connection with the coup, which he said was backed by a parallel terrorist organization. More than 2,700 judges have been removed from duty, reports Reuters.
Turkeys intelligence agency had declared the coup over in the early hours of the morning, and said the Air Force was responsible.
http://qz.com/734072/turkeys-government-defeated-a-coup-and-forced-the-men-behind-it-to-strip/
Erdogan and his supporters are in the process of removing, as he calls it, a "parallel structure" in the Turkish judiciary, military and Turkish society in general -- in plain language, his political opposition.
Where will this leave Erdogan's government moving forward?
Is he strengthened after crushing the coup attempt? Or will this purging of what seems to be ALL of the opposition ultimately weaken his hold on power?