The consolidation of supreme power to Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan continues unabated.
Erdogan seeks presidential (personal) control of the army while directly accusing the US of taking sides with coup participants.
In the rumor mill category, an unnamed US lieutenant general was allegedly directly involved in plotting the coup from the Incirlik airbase in Turkey.
Erdogan Accuses US General of “Taking Side of Plotters”
The BBC reports Erdogan Says US General ‘Taking Side of Plotters’.
Turkey’s president has blasted remarks by top US general Joseph Votel in the wake of the failed coup, accusing him of being “on the side of the plotters”.
Gen Votel, head of US Central Command, said jailing some military leaders could damage Turkish-American military co-operation.
President Erdogan condemned the comments, saying: “It’s not up to you to make that decision. Who are you? Know your place! You are taking the side of coup plotters instead of thanking this state for defeating the coup attempt.”
He added: “They [the critics] say, ‘We worry for [Turkey’s] future’. But what are these gentlemen worried about? Whether the numbers of detained and arrested will increase? If they are guilty, they will increase.”
50,000 Passports Cancelled
The BBC article notes “More than 66,000 public sector workers have been dismissed from their posts and 50,000 passports cancelled, while the labour ministry is investigating 1,300 of its staff. The state has also shut 142 media outlets and detained several journalists.”
Anyone whose passport was cancelled is likely to spend the rest of their life in prison, assuming of course they are not quickly executed.
Erdogan Seeks Personal Control of Army
Reuters reports Erdogan Wants Army Under President’s Control After Coup.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan wants the armed forces and national intelligence agency brought under the control of the presidency, a parliamentary official said on Thursday, part of a major overhaul of the military after a failed coup.
Erdogan’s comments came after a five-hour meeting of Turkey’s Supreme Military Council (YAS) – chaired by Prime Minister Binali Yildirim and including the top brass – and the dishonorable discharge of nearly 1,700 military personnel over their alleged role in the abortive putsch on July 15-16.
Erdogan, who narrowly escaped capture and possible death on the night of the coup, told Reuters in an interview last week that the military, NATO’S second biggest, needed “fresh blood”. The dishonorable discharges included around 40 percent of Turkey’s admirals and generals.
In the aftermath of the coup, media outlets, schools and universities have also been closed down. Ankara prosecutors requested the seizure of the assets of 3,049 judges and prosecutors detained as part of the investigation into the coup attempt.
Thousands Protest Outside U.S. Base in Turkey, Burn US Flags
Military.Com reports Thousands Protest Outside U.S. Base in Turkey.
Thousands of Turkish protesters filled the streets outside the U.S. military base at Incirlik, Turkey, on Thursday, burning American flags and demanding that the government close the base.
The U.S. military maintains an arsenal of nuclear weapons at Incirlik and it is an operational hub for the air campaign against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.
US General Involved in “Think Tank” Plotting of Coup from Incirlik Airbase?
File this one in the rumor mill category: Incirlik Airbase Served as “Think Tank” of Plotters in Turkey Coup.
Reportedly, a day before the military coup attempt, the generals supporting Fethullah Gulen gathered at Incirlik airbase for a secret meeting.
The fact was revealed after the testimony of one of the detained Turkish generals who were involved in the military coup attempt.
Moreover, reportedly, a US lieutenant general, whose name hasn’t been disclosed yet, also participated in this meeting.
Protest at Incirlik Airbase
Anyone Believe ….
- The coup was plotted at the Incirlik Airbase?
- A US lieutenant general was involved?
Reader Bran who sent me the story has these comments:
That article links to the Daily Sabah, a now confiscated Turkish government mouthpiece. If I ranked news reliability it might look like this:
1- Certainly sensational and obviously false or misinformation.
2- Hearsay and conspiracy orientated.
3- Unverified source, not completely reliable but quite possible.
4- Based on fact and sourced, but likely presented for propaganda.
5- Straight facts from a reliable source.My takes is that Turkey is prepared to challenge the US relationship, and this is another signal. It is placed in a format that seems official but one that can later be discarded. The paper would not publish anything like that without official approval.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
Two questions arise;
Will Merkel accept Turkish refugees whose names Erdogan does not like?
Does he have the memoirs of Gaddafi, Saddam and Pol Pot on his bookshelf?
Well it doesn’t seem like she wants to extradite the one’s he doesn’t like back to Turkey
http://www.thelocal.de/20160728/turkey-demands-germany-extradite-glen-supporters
So maybe she is reinforcing the message that he had better keep them tight there if he wants to punish them ?
Apparently Erdo. announced that he will no longer seek to prosecute those who insult him, though that would just be abroad .Those in Turkey who might can say what they want but four walls will stop anything they say being heard.
I get the feeling events are closing in on Erdogan , he will be allowed to play out his version for a while longer , but will have to be very deft to avoid either being tied into a knot or charging ahead into confrontations that cannot be won.
Ha! You missed a few. Perhaps Erdogan should read Killing Hope: A History of CIA and US Military Intervention by William Blum.
Iran (1953); Guatemala(1954); Thailand (1957); Laos (1958-60); the Congo (1960); Turkey (1960, 1971 & 1980); Ecuador (1961 & 1963); South Vietnam (1963); Brazil (1964); the Dominican Republic (1963); Argentina (1963); Honduras (1963 & 2009); Iraq (1963 & 2003); Bolivia (1964, 1971 & 1980); Indonesia (1965); Ghana (1966); Greece (1967); Panama (1968 & 1989); Cambodia (1970); Chile (1973); Bangladesh (1975); Pakistan (1977); Grenada (1983); Mauritania (1984); Guinea (1984); Burkina Faso (1987); Paraguay (1989); Haiti (1991 & 2004); Russia (1993); Uganda (1996);and Libya (2011). Plus Ukraine.
Indeed.
The United States has evolved into the most egregious state sponsor of terror the world has ever seen and is not on any moral ground, high low or otherwise.
The Turkish ETF, TUR, is holding up fairly well and is up about 5% YTD.
So coups, destroying the rule of law and dictators seem to help the economy.
“helps the economy of rank speculators” yes, indeed.
There is no way in any formal sense the USA was actively involved in this coup…if it even was a coup actually.
No…Special Operations Command gains nothing by creating chaos in NATO member Turkey either.
Putin is a standout in this one for obvious reasons. Great Britain and France a close second actually.
In fact you might have the proverbial “murder on the Orient Express” problem on this on. Iran? Check. Egypt? Check. Saudi Arabia? Absolutely.
Certainly if you’re Greece you’ve come into possession of some very valuable human cargo…that includes the Helicopter they flew in I might add.
Other than that this is still very much a matter for “internal affairs” who interestingly have so far escaped completely unscathed.
I can think of several reasons that a coup would have been welcomed by various powers in the west , though I am going to bunk on explaining them here now .
Actually, Erdogan has been sucking up to Putin recently, as the Russian boycott has been very harmful….Erdogan seems to be tacking toward the middle…
“Putin is a standout in this one for obvious reasons. Great Britain and France a close second actually.”
Good Lord. Putin is getting blamed for everything lately. If John Kerry or some political hack in the House of Lords farts out of tune it’s automatically Putin’s fault. ha. Vlad is the new GW Bush. Next they’ll blame him for the Zika Virus. ha. The man is trying to mind his own business. He’s not invading sovereign nations and toppling democratically elected regimes. He’s not planting missiles in Mexico or Canada for ‘defensive’ purposes. Looks to me like he’s being baited to react and when he’s finally forced into it they’ll say “See, we told you he’s evil!”. Can’t win for losing.
First the neocons build Hillary up as a strong military leader compared to inexperienced Trump. Now a crisis in Turkey with our nukes at risk. Expect a role for Hillary with her uber presidential knowledge in quelling this crisis. Infinite cynicism has endowed me with the power to see the future.
Gosh, that really is cynical.
Don’t forget there is a ‘big’ meeting with Putin due in the next ten days or so, Erdogan seems to be playing off everyone against each other from what is in reality a very weak position.
What’s left of the Turkish military couldn’t fight its way out of a wet paper bag. Turkish military went from Italian class to Saudi class in seven days. Arm the Kurds and put Turkey out of its misery.
Turkey is going from a prosperous secular nation back to the middle ages of a theocracy run by a dictator. What a pity: another FAIL for Obama foreign policy.
Trump should have picked General Votel as his running mate. But 2 no-nonsense straight talkers in the White House at one time would probably be more than the average American could handle. We’ve evolved into a nation of people who enjoys being lied to and BS’ed. Case in point: Hitlery Clinton. Half the country loves her. Go friggin’ figure.
But this latest accusation should cause great consternation within NATO. Who is Merkel going to side with? Her buddy Erdo or sugar daddy America? That should keep her awake at night. The old woman will probably have a stroke from all the stress within a year. Whatever it take to remove her from office – I’m all in.
“Case in point: Hitlery Clinton. Half the country loves her. Go friggin’ figure.”
No, they don’t. For many, it’s the novelty of a woman US president. Something that should ever be a novel idea, btw, other countries have them. But back to the Dem candidate from Hell, it’s all about the show and novelty of woman empowerment. I’m a woman and I think the show is a farce. Empowerment comes from within and the person you are, not a gender issue that is played out politically now. Gah! I suspect the real numbers of true supporters who love her, no matter her obviously less than stellar history, is alot less than half. The rest are simply voters who are into the trendy, novelty, and for this moment (forget the repercussions– give me now!). These are the non-planners voter block, and they are numerous.
But I’ll agree to your last sentence posted, LFOldTimer.
Whether the lunatics support Hitlery for her policies, for her gender or for pure novelty – support is support and a vote is a vote. If you question whether Hitlery has a huge following in America I’m afraid you’re living in denial.
With that said I pray that Trump has a bigger following on Nov 08. Otherwise America is doomed.
The rest of the world looks at Hitlery like a woman who rode on the coattails of a man and thinks she’s entitled to lead the nation by virtue of her last name.
If Hitlery is elected President it will send the women’s movement back into the stone age. Rational and sensible women should agree with me.
i found this source to be very interesting. it does not follow the MSM narrative. News Bud, Sibel Edmonds, Born in the Mideast, lived in Iran and Turkey before moving to the us in 1988. Worked as an FBI translator, now an online media site that aims to offer nonpartisan investigative journalism.
Ok. I took your bait and listened to the first 4 and a half minutes of that drivel.There is no way an “app” found by the Erg’s people prove it was a NATO coup! I’ve written code for apps and tried to sell it to Apple and its not like I put in there 20x who I am for vanity. When a coup is attempted and an “app” used the real names of the people aren’t going to referenced. Everyone is going to have a code name for safety. Good grief – Turkey’s pushing this propaganda when the actual ‘app’ was probably made by a NATO soldier and was nothing more than a poor version of Pokemon Go, but you watch, that one app will probably be used by this administration to scapegoat someone if need be – but I’m telling you it wasn’t the app and it wasn’t a NATO coup attempt. It was Erg himself that did this w/a few of his loyal followers inside the military and was a ‘fake’ coup to get him these powers we see him using now. Oh the headlines read 2000 soliders involved but were they really or were they the ones that didn’t swear fealty to him when asked but still loyal to Turkey and its constitution & had nothing to do w/the “coup’? We’ll never know. Its Turkey – they made a movie about its prisons called Midnight Express.
My take from the video is that the process of Turkey just pretending to be a NATO member has now been sped up to leaving the Western/NATO bloc and joining the Eastern/muslim bloc.
Wonderful. Those unintended consequences can be a sumbitch!
Armenia also switched away from EU and has some trouble brewing now…
I read that the Germans will hold a huge protest rally in Berlin (Merkel muss weg! – Merkel must go!) on Saturday at Washington Square. Thousands are expected to attend to oppose Merkel’s asylum policy.
The Germans are finally waking up from a deep slumber. About time. How many more Muslim terrorist attacks will it take for the Germans to take their country back?
If the Germans don’t stop her there’ll be a mosque on every German street corner within 10 years.
Bratwurst will get banned and Biryani will become the new national food of choice.
UK ambassador to Ankara, Richard Moore, interviewed by the Hürriyet Daily News.
Turk Link [http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/uk-envoy-gulen-may-be-behind-the-coup.aspx?PageID=238&NID=102258&NewsCatID=510]
What do you think was the turning point in the July 15 coup attempt?
I think one of things that made great impressions on me, the key point clearly in the whole night – was when the president was able to get on the iPhone and make that interview with the CNN Türk. That was the turning point. Subsequent events proved this. People responded to the president’s call, went out the streets and at that point the coup was doomed. It was for me a kind of coming of age of Turkish democracy…
You are a sort of Turkish expert and you know these Gülenist people. Have you ever thought that these people could attempt such a thing?
Look, having spoken to senior officials, to senior ministers here, I don’t think anyone understood the degree to which they appear to have penetrated the military. I think there is a quite good deal of understanding that they had infiltrated other institutions, particularly the police and judiciary. We saw that in the Ergenekon and Balyoz cases. But I think we were all surprised at the scale of it in the military…
Minister Duncan sole European visitor to Turkey after coup
I do understand the Turkish frustration with people who mention the coup briefly and swiftly go on to complain about post-coup measures…The U.K.’s condemnation of the coup was particularly clear and absolute. That’s why our minister for Europe and the Americas, Sir Alan Duncan, came out on July 20-21. He had only been in office for three days…
What a load of crap. Erdogan is leading Turkey down a delusional psychotic tunnel, of the same sort that Sadam Hussein or Joseph Stalin lead their nation. The only hope is if someone takes out Allah’s new rep on earth.
Questioning whether the plot is real is now treason, and anybody that can be linked to the wrong side (albeit a university rector) is now deemed a terrorist for whom it is even too good to be buried in a mass grave behind a dog compound. Gulen even has American generals stationed in Turkey in his back pocket.
The whole coup story is not credible. The business with F16s shooting at helicopters and bombs at the parliament is pure theatre — the air force is unimportant to seizing strategic objects. Erodgan was “almost” shot out of the air by F16s and the coupists showed up at several locations he had just vacated… All orchestrated by some old Sufi (a former political ally) in Pennsylvania who has “invisibly” infiltrated all public institutions under the guise of charity and education. Come on. It’s almost like finding al Suqami’s passport sitting on top of the few remains of the vaporized twin Towers.
The tell-tale signature of these type of operations is not that they are not true, but the details with which they are mocking you.
I’ll grant that if it was staged the US would have to be in on that, but Erdogan has no US generals under his influence. If it were staged then it would be US/NATO inspired/encouraged knowing that key assets were under US control and therefore that the coup would lack the ‘finishing touches’. That would mean sending several thousand naive troops and commanders to a ‘different life’. I seriously don’t think that is what happened, it could just as easily had Turkish commanders mowing down protestors and seizing Erdo., after all, they would have known their own heads were on the block. Rather than look at who is not friends with Erdo., it would be interesting to know exactly how his own security forces are arranged, how the framework of loyalties to him is arranged and who is actually behind them. It would not surprise me if the west had every base covered, that is how it works… which explains why Russia is not welcome as well, being beyond western decision making.
Nonsense. It’s the US that’s trying to lead the entire world “down a delusional psychotic tunnel”, one that mankind can’t ever crawl its way out of.
The goal of the US is to run the world in the same way they run their own evil corrupt government – for the benefit of elites who will then have far more power and wealth.
Man’s world will once again be made up of the Royalty and the rabble.
If America or American generals were involved, it would mean that there was a real coup attempt, which the aftermath pretty much shows is not true ,, far too amateurish and nothing gained. The USA/CIA would never orchestrate something like this using the regular military command structure that is serving at bases in Turkey — too obvious. Many of the rank and file who were caught up in the events have spoken of “excercises”. This is another signature of staged events — there’s always exercises going on at the same time of which the object is something similar to what’s actually happening.
The most laughable are the people who think that this demonstrates that Turkey is now a bona fide domocratic state because the people took to the streets to support “their” governmnet — which has been busy crushing every legitimate form of institutional democracy that exists.
When Mish did his first post on the “coup attempt” and asked people to vote, my comment was that this was like figuring out the true causes of World War I. 100 years later, the causes of World War I are still being debated. This is a complicated tangle in Turkey. The UK diplomat thinks USA.gov was not involved, but he could just be saying this to be diplomatic; not wanting to offend the USA as the UK moves closer to Turkey and perhaps to Russia at the same time.
Of course, it was “staged” because by definition all coups and coup attempts are staged and planned. Who were the producers and directors of the staged event is the real question here, and events on the ground are open to interpretation. Like events in Ukraine, where the USA coup architect said that the USA spent $5 billion over several years to get the end result, this could just be an intermediate stage in some larger or longer term plan; or not, hard to say anything conclusive at this time.
In any case, as the UK ambassador to Ankara makes clear, the rallying against the coup included groups opposed to Erdogan. In other words, enduring a crazy elected leader you opposed was better than living under an indefinite military dictatorship. Sound reasoning. I know zilch about the Gulens, but the UK treats the threat as credible, at least for diplomatic purposes. As Erdogan starts backpedaling, it is apparent that even if he wishes to be an absolute dictator, he is smart enough to know the limits to his power. You can read that between the lines of what the UK ambassador to Ankara says about watching how it goes forward. The UK ambassador to Ankara knows Turkey well, and unlike USA ambassadors who get their posts in exchange for campaign contributions, is playing it right for the UK. I think the interview shows the wisdom of Brexit, as the UK is now more independent and does not have to follow Merkel or the EU. Historically, the UK came to power by being able to navigate these sorts of situations to its advantage; usually being the preferred ally of those in distress.
Why are the majority on this site apologists for the CIA and American political excess when it comes to destabilizing foreign governments? History is pretty clear that such intervention invites massive blowback in many forms, and never lasts long term. But the untutored neoconservatives continue, in both parties. NATO is an anachronism, as is our past 70 years of foreign meddling…it always fails. Suggestion for putative world leaders, especially Americans…please read a history book when you have a few minutes.
Mish……………… it’s pretty clear Muslims in general prefer to be governed by an Islamic oriented dictatorship. It’s use less to try to deal with them on a rational basis, a fact that escapes most western politicos. While I’m just an observer it’s also clear that a coup has to grab the offending leader right away for it to have any chance to succeed.
Regards……..Barry B
The USA was definitely behind the coup. It was such a bumbling, inept job that only Obama and Kerry could have planned it.
The coup was and continues to be an inside job, and was likely part of a larger plan. At this point, there are two things the USA should, but will not do:
1. Remove all forces and equipment from Turkey, destroy all capital and real property that must be left behind.
2. Stop all aid and assistance to Turkey and let them drift for free.
+1.
And furthermore, it’s not just some random thing called a “Coup” that fell out of the sky one day. Rather, Turkey is cracking at the seams. Erdogan is about as far from some Messianic Islamist ideologue as one can get. All he’s doing, is seeing the writing on the wall for the power structures that has had the upper hand in Turkey since Ataturk. And doing his best to position himself not to be washed away by the wave.
Turkey is smack in the middle between the Middle East and Europe. For the longest time, Europe was so obviously the pick of that particular litter. So those who championed Euro alignment and secularism were in the driver’s seat.
By now, the once aspirational Europe, and the West, is pretty much proving to be a failed experiment. Looked good on the paper the US constitution was written on, but turned out, in practice, to be nothing more than an excuse for the Clintons of the world to enrich and empower themselves at the expense of everyone else. With even that dystopian sorrow, being no more than a temporary waystation to straight up demographic suicide.
While contemporary Islamism, for all it’s seeming backwardness, at a minimum has the benefit of not having been tried and found a failure quite as of yet. I’m sure it will get to enjoy it’s time in the failure spotlight as well; but for now, it’s at least something fresh, exciting and ascendant. And, if nothing else, it’s not obviously demographically suicidal. That’s got to count for something.
So, Turkey is realigning from a declining West, to an ascendant East. Nothing anyone can do about it, besides just trying to hang on and hope for the best. Or, more specifically in the US case, get those darned nukes out of there! No use giving the Islamists any more help speeding up “our” failure, than we already have.
It would be interesting to analyze this coup and the claims of US involvement while taking into perspective the developing Syria issue. I believe it is suspected that Turkey was used to funnel arms from Libya to Syrian rebels after the coup in Libya. I suspected from day one after hearing of the Benghazi incident and the special forces guys there who were finding and “destroying” Libyan weapons caches after the end of the revolt there that some of those weapons were being funneled to Syria and that that alone might have been the real reason for the Benghazi incident. That movement of weapons would be a historically typical CIA action.
“That movement of weapons would be a historically typical CIA action.”
Exactly. Plus Third Parties to do the dirty work and provide Plausible Deniability. This is part of the critique of Hillary as Sec. of State. Trump sums it up rather brutally, calling Hillary the worst secretary of state in the history of the republic and an enabler/creator of ISIS. Of course, it takes a village of bureaucrats and others to do it. If a ruined Libya, a destabilized Syria and Middle East, and a flood of refugees into the EU was part of the game plan for strategic reasons, then the operation, including Turkey under Erdogan, would be judged a success. In other words, if the plan is to create a New Middle East and creating chaos and destruction is considered necessary as a means to that end, then you might judge it positively. Just a possibility to be considered; but the difference giving credit and rewards and blame.
Personally, I cannot think of a good reason for bombing Libya to rubble and dismembering and murdering its leader. Seems barbaric to me, which makes the architects of Libya’s destruction barbarians of the worst sort. What benefit has come from it? If you cannot point to a benefit, then what was the point of destroying Libya? You are just left with death and destruction for its own sake. Erdogan is a saint in comparison to the Libyan destruction architects. The USA/EU/NATO coalition of the willing criticizing Erdogan is the height of hypocrisy, pure Orwellian talk.
UK post-Brexit is at least taking a different approach towards Turkey. Getting out of EU allows the UK to once again be an independent nation-state. Turkey, the UK and Russia will be aligned, and USA and Merkel/EU will be interesting to watch.
50,000 passports cancelled
50,000 migrants created
“NATO” — which at this point means Obama, Hollande and Merkel (not their citizens, and not really any other countries) — put Turkey into a position where Erdogan had to choose between joining the EU and favoring Islamists… then France vetoed Turkey joining the EU. Either Erdogan pals up with Russia (maybe) or France forces Turkey to be like Algiers. Its a failure of NATO policy no matter what.
Love him or hate him, Erdogan is still more popular in his country than Obama Hollande or Merkel are in theirs… that is not an endorsement of Erdogan, just the sad reality of how messed up Obama’s foreign policy is.
And for all the nonsense and excuse making, the media in Turkey is still less government controlled than the mess in the USA. Glad I dropped cable TV a long time ago, hope even more people do it soon
NATO expected Turkey to come over to the EU way of thinking, and that just was not going to happen any time soon. Erdogan baulked at dismantling various authoritarian legislation, principally anti terror law, and would not let the west infiltrate and take over his own related power structure. Events are being used to prove his scepticism was warranted, and if you follow the theory through then witholding visa free, Armenia genocide bill, witholding refugee aid would all be part of that package, along with the coup.
There is something very dodgy about how how Merkel rammed through visa free for return/retaining refugees, as in a tactical move that was understood to be completely empty of real content.
In the US you can still take the point of view you like, if you survive the media saturation. In Turkey you cannot, the credit for any open intellect present in Turkey is not thanks to Erdogan.
How popular is Erdogan really? A few tens of thousand protestors does not prove too much, but sure his following is actually dedicated… to compare him with Obama is like comparing a gorilla with a someone’s fetish.
‘Sure hope we flew all our nukes out of Incirlik. If not, they won’t be ours much longer…
Why does this sound so familiar? Oh yeah, IRAN all over again only this time with Nukes AND a US Military Base instead of a University + Consulate. Erg is still holding everyone on that base as a hostage. There are no flights that can leave. They’re running out of food.
Are they dismantling the nukes now per protocol? Destroying the jets? B/c the barbarians are at the gates and they will go over, take control, and seize those US soldiers and air field just like when Jimmy Carter was in office.
This was a “fake” coup planned by Erg himself. Its why the military on the street were told it was an “exercise” and they didn’t cross the bridge to take control of Parliament. Its why the 2 jets that had a “lock” on the president’s Gulf Stream private plane did not shoot it down which would’ve really been the plan all along if it was a real coup – this was a setup to give Erg the power he needed since his popularity was falling at home, to go from a parliamentary system to a presidential/tyrant and that’s exactly what we have brewing.
When the secular military first came out and said they had seized control did Pres Obama side with them? No. He went with the religious fanatic. Its no wonder Egypt is so angry as its now the only secular country in the region that has a military besides Lebanon that has too many military factions but no standing army per se.