One crucial difference is that the military juntas of the past always gave the power back to the civilians after setting the country back to its “factory settings." The most brutal of the coups, the one in 1980 in which about 50,000 people were jailed/tortured, created the constitution that was in force until now. It was the checks and balances in that constitution that were completely dismantled yesterday.

In contrast, Erdogan is not the type to leave power peacefully.