Poverty of Criticism: Reading The July 15 Coup Attempt FromThe West

Abstract

This study is about how the failed 15 July 2016 coup in Turkey is represented in the West. Given the fact that a distorted representation reigned in the Western media, this study primarily asks why the Left and the Right presented almost similar picture about the 15 July coup attempt. In order to reply this question, the paper utilizes two concepts, "good Muslim vs. bad Muslim" and "the romance of resistance". According to the first, the Right presented a distorted picture of the coup attempt because its mentality based on "good Muslim vs. bad Muslim" makes Gulen, the coup maker, innocent and Erdogan source of evil respectively. As for the Left, it perceived Erdogan as the absolute leader and all others including Gulen as oppositional movements. Therefore, the Left was poisoned by the fear that what if the coup is utilized by Erdogan for a greater power.