So last Friday, a splinter of the powerful Turkish military attempted a coup against President

Recipteip Erdogan, who's an Islamist with a taste for the authoritarian.

Erdogan has spent the past decade purging the military of secularists, integrating his own

brand of radical Islam into the government.

In the process, he's also made for himself a $182 million fortune.

He's built himself three palaces, including a $650 million Saddam-esque monstrosity.

He's cracked down on journalists. He's gone soft on ISIS, and he's threatened to get rid of the

Constitutional Court. He is, in short, an aspiring dictator. Sadly, as we all know, the coup failed.

Or maybe the coup was just a setup. Erdogan has used the

failure of the coup as an excuse to completely purge his enemies. He's demanded the United States

hand over a moderate cleric he sees as his enemy. He's detained or suspended 20,000 police,

civil service, judiciary, and army members. He's called to reinstate the death penalty

for anyone who attempted

the coup. 1,500 finance ministry officials were thrown out thousands of deans of colleges were,

and 30 governors were fired as well. So in response, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry blustered

through his crazy face, NATO has a requirement with respect to democracy. Given the Obama administration stood by and did nothing after Syrian dictator Bashar Assad

used chemical weapons on his own citizens, Erdogan probably laughed out loud at this particular

missive.

So here's the question.

Was the coup moral?

Some on the left say no.

A columnist for the Guardian, a socialist named Owen Jones, tweeted, quote, you don't have to support Turkey's government.

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