The botched coup attempt that rattled Turkey on July 15, 2016, marked a double setback for the country’s democracy. As the academic Vahap Coskun succinctly described it, the failed putsch “was an insurrection against the democratic order by a group that had infiltrated the state. Those in the seat of power realized that the most critical organs of the state had been functioning outside their control and that their hold of power had been to a large extent only an appearance.” Turkish democracy thus braced for a second “coup” on July 16 as the government embarked on a ferocious crackdown with the stated aim of dismantling the putschist network and in the process pushing the limits of the law with authoritarian and arbitrary measures.

It was in this climate that the Justice and Development Party (AKP) quickly moved to install a populist, nationalist order, an endeavor that continues today. This, in fact, is at the core of the April 16 referendum on constitutional changes, which are designed to equip President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with sweeping executive powers.

July 15 may have been a milestone in the erosion of Turkish democracy, but it was certainly not the starting point. The government’s reaction to academics critical of its Kurdish policies constitutes a telling example of the link between its paternalistic tendencies before July 15 and its hardening authoritarian attitude after the putsch. Prior to the attempted coup, these academics faced oppressive, arbitrary actions, but after July 15, the government launched a massive purge at universities that appears to serve as one of the foundations of the new era. How did it all begin?

On Jan. 11, 2016, 1,128 academics — 953 of them teaching in Turkish universities — denounced the government’s heavy-handed response to an attempted rebellion in the Kurdish-majority southeast in a joint statement, “We Are Not Going To Be a Party To This Crime.” Erdogan reacted furiously the following day in a speech to Turkish ambassadors broadcast live on television, proclaiming, "We are faced with the treason of so-called intellectuals, most of whom receive their salaries from the state, hold the ID cards and passports of this state and enjoy a prosperity level well above the country’s average. Anyone who bears enmity to this state despite living on it must get the punishment they deserve in the quickest possible time. Public servants who come out against the unity of their country and nation cannot be tolerated in any institution. … I’m calling on all relevant institutions to be sensitive on this issue and fulfill their duties."