Attempted Coup in Turkey Underway, Military Now Claims Control
News out of Turkey is changing moment by moment, as the military coup is underway against newly elected, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Erdoğan has issued a statement to the people of Turkey via Facetime saying:
I urge the Turkish people to gather at public squares and airports. … There is no power higher than the power of the people.”
He added that he believes the coup attempt will be thwarted soon, and that there will be a “strong response” to those responsible for the coup attempt. They will receive the “heavy price”, he said.
NATO and Middle East neighbors are shocked by the coup, but one foreign policy expert has warned of its occurrence for months. Brookings Institute, Professor Omar Taspinar states that:
“The situation is really fluid. Right now the question is whether the attempted coup is from the top command, with the top brass involved, or a colonel or officer-coup, from a certain segment of the army. There are indications right now that it is the latter. The chief of staff of the military has not spoken yet, and traditionally with Turkish coups you would expect the head of the military to be on TV taking command.”
“This will rattle the Turkish markets. It will tarnish the country’s image. My analysis is that this will certainly be embarrassing for Erdoğan. The signs are chaotic right now, but I think the rumors of Erdoğan’s demise would be highly exaggerated given he has been on TV.”
Taspinar said it was especially embarrassing for the Turkish president because of the history of Turkish coups. “Each time the military intervened in the past it was at a time when the government was very unpopular.”
The most significant risk, Taspinar said, was a descent into bloody clashes between police forces loyal to Erdoğan’s ministry of the interior, over which he has an iron grip, and a segment of a rebellious military. “I don’t expect that to happen, but if it does it would be devastating to Turkey.”
Meanwhile, Erdoğan is not well liked by Putin, who “claimed that Moscow has evidence that the Su-24 bomber was shot down by Turkey to protect oil deliveries from ISIL or Daesh from IS controlled oil fields, being exported to Turkey.
This wouldn’t be the first piece of evidence that Turkey was supporting terrorism. Like the United States, they’re responsible for arming Syrian rebels. Putin also stressed that there was no reason to attack the Su-24 bomber, because it was not threatening Turkey.
Despite claims that Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan had nothing to do with the decision, Moscow is still labeling it as a “criminal move” and a “huge mistake”. And they’re correct to do so. Of course Erdogan had something to say about it.”
While Turkey is supposed to be an ally, the relationship between the US and Turkey has been cooling. This latest trend of ISIS training on Turkish lands is disturbing at best.
The chilled relationship between countries can be better understood due when seen through the story of ISIS fighter being trained in Turkey.
Abdurrahman Abdulhadi, a Syrian national-turned Daesh (Islamic State) fighter, says he was trained in Turkey before receiving his first assignment with Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL).
“In August 2014, I was training in the Turkish town of Adana with one of ISIL’s Emirs,” Abdulhadi said, adding his month-long training was completed with 60 other fighters in a camp “not far from the airport.”
The captured IS soldier said military training was conducted by two officers and one of them only “spoke Turkish, so another one had to translate for him.”
“Once a week we had shooting classes where we were taught to use Kalashnikovs, machine guns and other arms,” the 20 year-old said.“We were trained in Turkey because ISIL’s command thought it was safer here than in Syria because of the bombardments there.”
Meanwhile, as the world watches another country undergo cataclysmic events, updates continue to come in from Turkey, the newest stating that:
A Turkish national intelligence spokesman has claimed that the coup has been “repelled”, amid a concerted effort by both the government and military to portray the sense that their respective side is in power.
According to the Associated Press, government officials, including president Recep Erdoğan, have tried to play down reports that the military is in control.
At the same time, general Zekai Aksakalli, the commander of Turkey’s military special forces said that “those who are attempting a coup will not succeed”. He told NTV television:
Our people should know that we will overcome this… We are in control of the situation.
He also said some deaths and injuries were reported during the coup attempt, without providing any details.
Turkish media reports have also reported that MIT, the national intelligence agency, as saying the coup has been defeated, according to the AP.
Turkey has also shut down YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.
Nice.
This is what happens when you let RADICAL ISLAM run amuck