Turkey’s Coup Brought To You Via Plotters’ WhatsApp Posts

Pro Erdogan supporters hold Turkish national and Ottoman flags during a rally at Taksim sq
DANIEL MIHAILESCU/AFP/Getty

France24 reports: Transcripts of WhatsApp messages reportedly exchanged by a group of Turkish coup plotters reveal a chilling tick-tock of how the July 15-16 putsch unfolded, from a smooth start to a harrowing finish.

If the recent Turkish coup attempt was effectively foiled on FaceTime, when President Recep Tayyip Erdogan turned to social media to issue his call on Turks to take to the streets, the putsch plot appeared to have unfolded on WhatsApp.

A transcript of WhatsApp chats obtained by Al Jazeera Turk reveals how the coup plotters launched their bid to seize power on July 15 and at which point, during that long, fateful night, the plot started to unravel as the tide turned against the plotters.

The posts on the mobile messaging application were gleaned from video footage and still photographs obtained by the Qatar-based TV station’s Turkish channel shortly after the failed coup. They were translated from the original Turkish language and analysed over the weekend by the UK-based open source investigative website, bellingcat.com.

At 9.15 pm local time on Friday, July 15, a Turkish military officer, Major Murat Celebioglu, creates a WhatsApp group named “Yurtta sulh,” which literally means, “peace at home”.

Read more here.

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