The Council for Peace at Home ( tr, Yurtta Sulh Konseyi), alternatively called the Peace Council, claimed to be an executive body that led a coup attempt in Turkey starting on 15 July 2016 and ended on 16 July 2016. The name was made public in a statement read on air during the 15 July 2016 temporary takeover by soldiers of the headquarters of Turkish state broadcaster

TRT The Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT; Turkish : ) is the national public broadcaster of Turkey, founded in 1964. TRT was for many years the only television and radio provider in Turkey. Before the introduction of commercial radio i ...

. The group was supposedly formed within the

Turkish Armed Forces The Turkish Armed Forces (TAF; tr, Türk Silahlı Kuvvetleri, TSK) are the military forces of the Republic of Turkey. Turkish Armed Forces consist of the General Staff, the Land Forces, the Naval Forces and the Air Forces. The current Chie ...

clandestinely. It was declared to be the governing council of

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

during the coup attempt. The existence of council was firstly announced by Tijen Karaş, a news anchor at the state-owned

news channel, allegedly at gunpoint. The name "Peace at Home Council" is derived from '

Peace at Home, Peace in the World In Turkish, the slogan "''Yurtta sulh, cihanda sulh''" – "Peace at home, peace in the world" – was first pronounced by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk on 20 April 1931 to the public during his tours of Anatolia. This stance was later integrated a ...

', which is a famous quote of Atatürk.

Events

The formation of the council and its dismissal of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government was announced live on the state broadcaster

after soldiers took over the channel's broadcasting headquarters. The stated aims of the council were "to reinstate constitutional order, human rights and freedoms, the rule of law and general security that was damaged". No set information regarding members and structure of the council were given and TRT suspended broadcasting shortly after the delivery of the statement announcing the council's creation.

Statement and subsequent analysis

The statement that was read on air at TRT headquarters, said (in Turkish) that

Analysis

A BBC article by Ezgi Başaran said that "the statement of the junta, that was ... read on ... government TV as the coup got under way, bore a strong resemblance to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's famous address to the Turkish Youth. ..On the other hand, given that these references are too obvious, they may have been intentionally included to insinuate a

Kemalist Kemalism ( tr, Kemalizm, also archaically ''Kamâlizm''), also known as Atatürkism ( tr, Atatürkçülük, Atatürkçü düşünce), or The Six Arrows ( tr, Altı Ok), is the founding official ideology of the Republic of Turkey.Eric J. Zurcher ...

junta rather than a Gülenist one".

Staged coup allegations

In the aftermath of the coup attempt, commentators on social media alleged that the creation of the council had been staged to invoke greater support for the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP), with some sceptics citing the lack of any solid information on the council's actual composition as evidence that the entire ordeal had been faked by the government."

Composition

No official statement regarding the composition of the council was given. According to the state-run ''

Anadolu News Agency Anadolu Agency ( tr, Anadolu Ajansı, ; abbreviated AA) is a state-run news agency headquartered in Ankara, Turkey. History The Anadolu Agency was founded in 1920 during the Turkish War of Independence by the order of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. As ...

'', subsequent investigations and allegations pointed to the leader being former Colonel Muharrem Köse, who had been dismissed earlier in 2016 from his role as legal advisor to the Chief of Staff due to his apparent links with Fethullah Gülen.

Aftermath

The Peace Council was eventually unable to take power after pro-coup forces were defeated and the incumbent AKP government retained control. Mass arrests were later made, targeting over two thousand soldiers including senior officers and generals. Speculation emerged that former

Turkish Air Force The Turkish Air Force ( tr, ) is the aerial warfare service branch of the Turkish Armed Forces. The Turkish Air Force can trace its origins back to June 1911 when it was founded by the Ottoman Empire, however, the air force as it is known to ...

Commander

Akın Öztürk Akın Öztürk (born February 21, 1952) is a former four-star general in the Turkish Air Force who served as the 30th Commander of the Turkish Air Force until August 4, 2015. After his expiration as commander, he continued his duty as a member of ...

had been in charge of the coup attempt.

References

{{Reflist Military of Turkey 2016 in Turkish politics 2016 establishments in Turkey 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt 2016 disestablishments in Turkey Organizations based in Ankara Organizations designated as terrorist by Turkey