Nobody Wants to Take Ownership of Failed Coup in Turkey

July 17th, 2016

Awake Goy

nsnbc : Turkey’s President R. Tayyip Erdogan demanded that the USA extradite the US-based cleric Fetullah Gülen, said to be behind this weekend’s failed military coup. Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag blamed the Gülenist Hizmet movement. Hizmet, for its part, rejects the accusations. Republican nationalists for their part, also point the fingers at Gülen, who lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania, USA. So far, almost no details, as to the names of the arrested officers and their links have been made public.

In a televised interview, Turkey’s Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag accused the Hizmet movement loyal to Fetullah Gülen of being involved in the attempted military coup. Both Fetullah Gülen and Hizmet have rejected the accusations. Hizmet stated that it condemns any military intervention in domestic politics and denounced accusations from Erdogan’s circles as irresponsible.

The US-based Fetullah Gülen and Hizmet are known for being linked to the CIA, deep State structures in Turkey, links to NATO intelligence, and for having infiltrated the highest levels of leading parties in European countries, especially in countries with a relatively high number of Turkish immigrants and citizens of Turkish origin.

President R. Tayyip Erdogan, for his part, said that a small group of servicemen but not the whole Turkish Army had launched the coup. Erdogan, on television, demanded that the USA extradite Fetullah Gülen from his self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania, USA. It is at this point unknown whether Turkish authorities have formally requested that the USA extradite the 74-year-old cleric.

Republican nationalists including the leftist Patriotic Party – Turkey also denounce Gülen and Hizmet, stressing that the failed coup on July 15 was not carried out by but against the Turkish Army. The party has several retired military officers who were involved in the so-called Ergenekon and Balyoz affairs which targeted hundreds secularist, republican military officers, accusing them of espionage and coup plans.

It later turned out that Gülenists had been involved in planting false “evidence”. It is worth noting that the Ergenekon and Balyoz affairs occurred before Erdogan and Gülen turned against each other. The affairs effectively weeded out the republican secularist core in the Turkish military’s cadres. It is also noteworthy that these officers were opposed to Erdogan’s and the AKP’s involvement in the war against Syria.

Courtesy HRW

The Patriotic Party – Turkey, for its part, has been and continues to be in vehement opposition to both Gülen and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The party claims that the attempted coup was launched to stop the fight against PKK and to prevent Turkey from making peace with countries such as Russia, Egypt and Syria, relations with which are problematic.

Ironically, the Patriotic Party – Turkey implicitly supports the policy of Erdogan that has led to the breakdown of the ceasefire between the government and the PKK. The PKK, for its part, is widely regarded as Moscow’s “stay behind” force that could be used in a potential conflict with Turkey or NATO.

The renewed armed conflict has according to many analysts contributed to the strengthening of regional alliances between Kurdish factions from Turkey, Iraq and Syria.

The death toll after the failed coup has risen to at least 265 while about 1,440 were injured. About 2,500 – 2,800 have reportedly been arrested.

So far, the Turkish authorities have not published the names of those who have been arrested, nor has there been released any information that could help verify which organization, if any, the officers who were involved in the coup were linked to. So far, the mystery coup in Turkey is one that nobody wants to owe, with everybody pointing fingers at the other. President R. Tayyip Erdogan, however, who was involved in weeding out secularist republicans in Turkey’s military, commented that the failed coup was like a gift from heaven. As it is so often with “heavenly things”, Turkey is rife with claims, allegations and accusations while little or no verifiable evidence has been produced.

CH/L – nsnbc 17.07.2016

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