Turkey’s failed coup gives its president a chance to seize more power

TURKEY has seen four governments ousted by its military in the space of four decades, most recently in the late 1990s. Yet until July 15th, another coup had been considered extremely unlikely. Many army officials resent Turkey’s increasingly authoritarian president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, for his attempts to reshape society along Islamic lines and to rein in the military, but few had reason to think that an attempt to depose him could be successful. Mr Erdogan has won every election since 2002, and retains the support of roughly half the electorate. Thanks to over a decade of economic prosperity, even committed opponents consider him a lesser evil than army rule. As one Turkish journalist tweeted on July 15th: “The worst kind of democracy is better than a coup.”

The coup was dismantled in a matter of hours amid a massive show of popular support for civilian rule. At least 265 people were killed, according to official sources. Mr Erdogan has emerged from the episode stronger than ever. His longstanding goal of changing the constitution to grant the presidency executive powers may be within reach.