This Twitter Thread Perfectly Dumbs Down Why The Turkish Coup Even Happened

A lot has happened since word of a Turkish coup d'etat reached the US.

The story and the images have been astonishing. There were photos of Turkish military members closing down bridges, video of fighter jets flying close to traffic and a president providing comments on an attempt to overthrow his government via FaceTime.

In the end, it looks as if the coup failed and incumbent Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will remain in power.

Still, it's easy to see how Friday's Turkish events could be confusing for any American.

The US is just used to a different paradigm of politics, so for anyone who's unfamiliar with the way things work in Turkey, you could already imagine the questions that would come to mind.

Chief among those questions is the most obvious one: Um, how could something like this even happen?

One Twitter user, Suzan Eraslan, perfectly laid out the historical context necessary to understand how and why a coup like this is possible and not really out of the ordinary given Turkey's past.

Here's her thread on Twitter.

The information laid out here checks out with many other sources that have filed reports meant to explain the situation. This Washington Post article, for instance, detailed the Erdogan's feud with the Kurds. Meanwhile, Vox's explainer of the situation, too, is in agreement with Eraslan's thread.

All in all, the Turkish coup attempt, while shocking, was not as farfetched of a notion as it might have seemed.

Citations: Turkey's coup, explained in under 500 words (Vox), Turkey's messy war in the Middle East, explained (The Washington Post)