Turks light flares as they gather in Taksim Square in Istanbul, protesting against the attempted coup on 18 July 2016. Credit: Emrah Gurel / AP/Press Association Images. All rights reserved. Foreign governments’ reactions to the failed coup d’état in Turkey have been diverse. When it still looked like the coup could succeed, US Secretary of State John Kerry was urging all actors to ensure “stability, peace and continuity within Turkey”. In the early morning hours, when it became clear that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was trumping his challengers, foreign ministers fell into a chorus of holding up democracy against military usurpation.
The Egyptian government took a different approach: at first there was jubilation over the fall Erdoğan, the Islamist supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood -- so much so that newspapers celebrating his fall went into print the next morning. This was then followed by the Egyptian representative at the UN Security Council vetoing a statement to “respect the democratically elected government” of Turkey. Egypt’s argument was that the Security Council was not in a position to determine if the last elections were democratic or not. Israel, after remaining silent throughout the night, came out with a statement in the morning that it “respects the democratic process in Turkey”.
These reactions reflect the foreign policy approaches and tools at the disposal of other regimes, more than they reflect what has been happening in Turkey. They also throw a light on the internal self-conceptions and legitimisations of Western states, Egypt and Israel, which is indicative of how internal and external affairs interact. Lastly, these statements lay bare the ubiquitous, multifarious and contradictory nature of the democracy paradigm in foreign relations.
