Will Erdogan’s countercoup succeed?

Right now, it appears his coup is succeeding.

Erdogan’s plan to use the military uprising as a pretense to cement his hold on power became clear when he declared the failed coup “a gift from God,” as he landed at Ataturk Airport early Saturday morning. Within hours of his arrival in Istanbul, the President moved to take control of the country and remake it to his liking.

But the most disturbing attack that Erdogan has waged post-coup has been on the education system. When the government announced it was revoking the teaching licenses of 21,000 private school teachers, firing over 1,000 university deans, ordering academics to cancel any foreign travel and cleaning out the education ministry of large numbers of bureaucrats, it was clear Erdogan was using the coup to advance agendas unrelated to democracy.

Turkish citizens have expressed alarm at Erdogan’s meddling with the education system, particularly his vow to “raise pious generations,” which has included plans to introduce mandatory Islam classes for elementary schools, adding religion classes for high school students and building 80 mosques in state universities.

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All of which reinforces the idea that Erdogan is moving the country away from the strictly secular path carved by Turkey’s founder Kemal Ataturk after World War I. As the thousands of imprisoned alleged coup plotters await their fate, wondering if Erdogan will reinstate the death penalty and apply it retroactively, the rest of the country frets over how far he will push to consolidate power and undermine democracy.

On Thursday, Erdogan announced he has imposed a state of emergency for three months and suspended the European Convention on Human Rights. Now the President can rule by decree, bypassing parliament altogether and expanding the crackdown at will.

So far, the President’s post-coup coup is succeeding — and without any visible obstacles. But if there is one obstacle in Erdogan’s path, it is the Turkish people’s passion for democracy. When military forces moved to overthrow the President, even liberal Turks, many of whom despise Erdogan, sharply rejected the attempted overthrow, declaring that even “the worst democracy is better than the best coup.” Erdogan may want to become a Turkish version of Putin, but the Turkish people have already shown they are willing to take to the streets to defend a hard-won democracy.