Woah. Am I just ignorant of politics or is this really totally unexpected?

What do you mean? I didn't mean to imply it was genuinely unbelievable by posting it here, but a lot lf stories posted in this thread really aren't. Anyway, the situation is at present quite dramatic, apparently.
Am I reading your inquiry correctly or did I misunderstand?

Maybe it's unbelievable that a lot of that crap qualifies as news?

Eh, idk. I'm basically going off memory of things that people were posting some time last year or before, which was basically just notable stories of some description. Was not referring to the "dumb people too dumb to know they're dumb" variety of stories ftr. (Lol)

I meant what I said. This whole thing is like something that appeared out of thin air to me. So I'm asking people who are more knowledgeable about politics whether there was any risk of a military coup lately anyone was aware of.

Oh, I'm sorry. :) My interpretation of your phrasing led me to believe that you were saying that, if this coup was indeed unexpected, it would mean you were ignorant in previously assuming (the way I read it) that this was a foregone conclusion, or something. Anyway, bad reading comprehension on my part.

Apparently, the military has been frowning their noses for quite some time about Erdogan trying to push the country's legislation in a more conservatively religious direction, as they themselves want Turkey to remain a somewhat secular country, as Atatürk envisioned it.
But yeah, I guess the coup is ultimately unexpected, although Miss P, being more of an insider to the country's affairs than any of us, for obvious reasons, would probably be able to give a more in-depth picture of the situation, were she on-line.
Hope she's staying safe, anyway. Heard there was shooting going on in Istanbul as well as Ankara and some other major cities, so I suppose now is not a good time to be out and about.

German news are reporting about Turkey all the time, but it's usually just abour refugees or some outrage about Erdogan, never a word about the military. Really curious about how things will evolve. And it's really hard to pick a side to root for.

Personally, I wouldn't mind Erdogan disappearing off the face of the earth, but there is of course the question of, were the coup to be a success, would the military respect the democratic rights of the Turkish people? To gain any trust from the people, they would of course have to promise to hold the appropriate elections and/or referendums, but who knows if they'll bother to make the effort. Should there be a new presidential election though, seeing as Erdogan was elected president by a majority of the voters, I suppose it's very possible that they will elect another president from his party, and it's back to square one, as far as anyone's concerned.

Historically the Turkish military has been the vanguard of constitutional secularism in the country, keeping religious fundamentalism at bay and away from the reigns of power.

Thus periodically throughout its history there have been military coupe's against the government to ensure that the Republic stays intact. Whether these are real or perceived threats, your guess is as good as mine, but I'm doubtful the current government is taking any action to move Turkey towards an Islamic state, so it would be interesting to know the reasoning of those involved in the coupe.

I had no idea there there were military coupes. Who manufactures them, Ford?