Puppet MastersS


Light Sabers

Failed coup in Turkey: Timeline of events


TRT world
Sat, 16 Jul 2016 00:00 UTC
Taksim square military coup
© AFPTurkish soldiers outnumbered by citizens in Taksim Square who foiled their military coup on July 16, 2016.
The Turkish government says millions of citizens and police have successfully repelled an hours-long coup attempt led by a breakaway faction of the nation's army.

The first signs of trouble came early Friday night, when residents in Istanbul began to report the closure of the Bosphorus and Fatih Sultan Mehmet bridges.

Comment: See also:
Will post-coup Turkey take its place in the New Eurasian Century?

Read More...
Chess

Will post-coup Turkey take its place in the New Eurasian Century?

Andrew Korybko
Katehon
Sat, 16 Jul 2016 12:23 UTC
Eurasia
Will Turkey take its place in the new Eurasian century?
The aftermath of the failed US-directed and Gulen-inspired coup attempt is already making itself clear, with Prime Minister Yildirim stating that Turkey might reinstate the death penalty to deal with the plotters. This statement is just as symbolic as it is substantial, since not only does it disprove allegations that Erdogan "planned this" himself for some Machiavellian purpose, but it also indicates that Turkey has decided to shun the West. The EU is strictly against the death penalty and would immediately halt the decades-long drawn-out accession negotiations with Turkey as a result.

Erdogan correctly calculated that the EU wants nothing to do with his country and that Turkey is unable to milk extra benefits from the bloc after the Brexit referendum, so he recalibrated his state's foreign policy to align with the multipolar world instead. This saw the recent news of Turkey belatedly declaring Al Nusra a terrorist organization and opening up secret reconciliation talks with Syria, despite still repeating the "face saving" refrain of "Assad must go". Furthermore, Turkey is part of Russia's nascent coalition of regional powers opposed to the US' daring attempt to militantly carve out the "second geopolitical Israel" of "Kurdistan". Not only that, but Turkey are Russia are also back on track for reimplementing the Balkan Stream megaproject, which when paired with China's complementary Balkan Silk Road high-speed rail project from Budapest to Piraeus, is perhaps the most ambitious multipolar outreach to Europe that has ever been attempted.
Read More...
Green Light

Russia-China relations strengthen despite Western pressure, says Russian weapons chief


RT
Sat, 16 Jul 2016 08:41 UTC
Rogozin yang
© Sergey Mamontov / SputnikRussian deputy PM Dmitry Rogozin (third from the left) and vice chairman of China’s State Council Wang Yang (front row on the left) visit the Innoprom-2016 expo in Yekaterinburg, Russia.
Economic cooperation between Russia and China will develop regardless of Western pressure of Moscow, Deputy PM in charge of the defense industry Dmitry Rogozin says, adding noted that it was wrong to view sanctions as the main reason for this.

"The People's Republic of China is developing very rapidly today. In many spheres it has reached the level of development that is very interesting to Russia. We are building a mutually-beneficial technological and industrial cooperation between our countries," Rogozin said after the Wednesday meeting with Chinese Vice-Premier Wang Yang in Yekaterinburg, Russia.

Rogozin noted that the relations with China would have been even more active if not for the West's "restrictive measures" against the Russian Federation. At the same time he emphasized that the sanctions were neither a hindrance nor the reason behind this cooperation.

"These relations are here to stay, they are caused by vital needs of our nations," he said.

Comment: If the western elites don't "smash up the chessboard" soon, they are going to simply fade into insignificance. Russia and China will forge ahead, creating the new world, and western societies will eventually fade into chaos and stagnation.

Read More...
Attention

More than 1,500 arrested, 90 dead, 1,150 injured in failed coup attempt against Turkish government


RT
Sat, 16 Jul 2016 08:18 UTC
Coup attempt turkey
© AFPTurkish solders intervene as people protest against a coup attempt in Istanbul's Taksim Square.

Turkish loyalists report arresting 1,563 soldiers and officers implicated in an overnight coup attempt; 29 colonels and five generals have been sacked. At least 90 people have been killed and 1,154 injured in military action in Istanbul and Ankara.

Pro-government forces have seized control of the top military HQ building, but there are still some groups of rebels resisting, a Turkish official said on Saturday, as cited by Reuters.

The official told the agency 1,563 military personnel were arrested following the coup attempt. But according to Milliyet, a Turkish daily, 1,374 were detained.

Comment: See also:

Read More...
Shoe

Flashback US evacuating military and civilian personnel from Turkey over security concerns


RT
Wed, 30 Mar 2016 16:39 UTC
Incirlik airbase
© Umit BektasIncirlik airbase in the southern Turkish city of Adana
Citing security concerns in Turkey, the Department of Defense has ordered the evacuation of US military families and civilians from Adana, Izmir and Mugla, as well as the Incirlik air base. Nearly 700 dependents are affected by the order.

This decision "allows for the deliberate, safe return of family members from these areas due to continued security concerns in the region," the US European Command (EUCOM) said in a statement Tuesday afternoon.

According to EUCOM chief General Philip M. Breedlove, the decision was made in consultation with the Turkish government, the State Department and the US Secretary of Defense.

"We understand this is disruptive to our military families, but we must keep them safe and ensure the combat effectiveness of our forces to support our strong ally Turkey in the fight against terrorism," Breedlove said.

Comment: Has the Turkish government given the US and Israel fair warning that they have something big planned that may have far reaching repercussions?

Read More...
Play

South Front: Challenging the Monroe Doctrine, Syrian War Reports (VIDEO)


South Front
Sat, 16 Jul 2016 00:28 UTC
south front
Russia Defense Report: Challenging the Monroe Doctrine

Read More...
Airplane

Erdogan lands in Istanbul, gives speech downplaying coup as 'minority' army mutiny


RT
Sat, 16 Jul 2016 01:45 UTC
Erdogan
© Sputnik
A plane carrying Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has landed at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport. The country's leader is making a statement on the military coup. Erdogan has addressed crowds of supporters after emerging at Ataturk Airport.

Having thanked the public and politicians for their support, the president said that Turkey would not be intimidated by illegal attempts to seize power. He said those involved in the military coup will get necessary response, regardless of what institution they are from.
Read More...
Chess

Flashback Throwing Turkey to the wolves: Erdogan is the new Milosevic, Saddam

Dimitris Konstantakopoulos
Katehon
Thu, 31 Mar 2016 00:57 UTC
turkey
Some hours before the Brussels terror attacks, on the other side of the Atlantic, a rather astonishing article was posted on the website of the ultra-hawkish and pro-Israeli American Enterprise Institute. It was written by a known neocon activist with strong ties (at least in the past, but probably also now) with Turkish Kemalists, Michael Rubin. Τhe article was entitled "Could there be a coup in Turkey?" In it, Turkish military are all but strongly advised to overthrow President Erdogan. The author assures them that they have nothing to fear from USA, NATO or Europe if they do it. He is also "describing", for Erdogan and his closest advisors, a fate not so different than the fate of the overthrown Egyptian President Morsi.

This publication is not an isolated incident. On March 10th, two former US ambassadors in Turkey did not go as far as to suggest a coup against Erdogan, still they called him to "reform or resign", as goes the title of their article published in the Washington Post. One of the writers, Mr. Edelman, belongs to the core of neoconservatism. He is believed to have contributed greatly, from the sidelines, to the emergence of Erdogan, when influential people in the USA were looking around for a more "accommodating" and "friendly" person to replace as head of the Islamists the ousted by the army PM Erbakan, too "original" and too "authentic". As for the other co-author of the piece in Washington Post, Mr. Abravomitz, he avoided being identified too much with Neoconservatives, still his soul seems not to be very far from their positions.


Comment: Abramowitz was a PNAC signatory. Neocon enough for you?


Comment: Rubin, Abramowitz, and Edelman have all written an open letter to Erdogan basically telling him to get his act together. Really, they're fine with him cracking down on the Kurds, the press, etc. But even Erdogan is too overt and over-the-top for the tastes of the Neocons, who prefer to keep their pathocratic proclivities hidden behind a mask of sanity. Erdogan has no such mask; he's gone full nutjob.

Read More...
Stormtrooper

Flashback US, Europe will give no sympathy for Erdogan in event of a military coup


Sputnik
Fri, 25 Mar 2016 19:21 UTC
Erdo boat flag
© shoebat.comErdogan 'may have to go' before Assad...
American expert on the Middle East Michael Rubin in his article analyzed the possibility and perspectives of a military coup in Turkey. According to the author, the current situation in the country is bad and "getting worse."

Particularly, the problem is rooted not only in the weakening system of national defense amid the growing terrorist threat. Rubin also outlined a number of contributing domestic issues. Turkey's public debt may be stable but its private debt is getting out control. The tourism industry is almost in ruins. Finally, the weakening national currency is having an impact on citizens' buying power, the analyst wrote for the American Enterprise Institute.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is "out-of-control," the article read. He is imprisoning political opponents, cracking down on the freedom of speech and "building palaces at the rate of a mad sultan." Earlier this month, Erdogan even threatened to dissolve the Turkish constitutional court. "His outbursts are raising eyebrows both in Turkey and abroad. Even members of his ruling party whisper about his increasing paranoia, according to some Turkish officials," Rubin wrote.

The analyst also brought up the Kurdish problem. Originally, Erdogan resumed peace talks with Kurds, but then he started a war against them. At the same time, Ankara has no chance to win this war while chances are high of a "de facto partition."

Turkey understands that Erdogan is leading the country to nowhere, and the Turkish military understands this too. "So if the Turkish military moves to oust Erdogan and place his inner circle behind bars, could they get away with it? In the realm of analysis rather than advocacy, the answer is yes," the author wrote.

Comment: Turkish citizens and the Turkey's military increasingly recognize that Erdogan is taking Turkey to the edge of the precipice in which there is no chance of victory and a high chance of it breaking apart. The Turkish military is the ultimate guardian of Turkey's constitution and its citizens. Will they see deposing Erdogan as what is necessary to protect their country and people, or stand by and let this psychopathic despot bring Turkey to disgrace and ruin?

Read More...
Red Flag

Flashback Erdogan conundrum: Triggers for military coup in Turkey?


Sputnik
Sat, 12 Mar 2016 14:05 UTC
Erdogan and military guy
© english.alarabiya.net"Let me think...yeah that's sneaky enough to work!"
"No, please, don't let him think!"
The current state of affairs in Turkey is triggering concern. Ankara is facing the dangerous combination of deepening political polarization in the society, a slump in economic growth, and escalating tensions both at home and abroad. Unlike the political and economic turmoil in the 1970s and 1990s, the current crisis is largely a result of the conflict between Turkey's pragmatic domestic and foreign policy and its actual push for leadership, Pavel Shlykov, an associate professor at the Asian and African Studies Institute of the Moscow State University, said in his report.

The current Turkish crisis can be described with several specific features.

First, all spheres of the country's political and social life as well as all its state institutions are engulfed in the crisis.

Second, public incertitude is growing about the future. People realize that the existing model of social and political development is jaded.

Third, the Turkish military is gradually building up its political influence, thus laying grounds for a military coup.

Fourth, recently the Kurdish problem has entered the new stage, and the situation in south-eastern Turkey can be described as a lukewarm civil war between Turkish troops and Kurdish forces.

Furthermore, the conflict in Syria is influencing Ankara's foreign and domestic policy.

Finally, the political prospects of the ruling Justice and Development Party (founded by Recep Tayyip Erdogan) are vague in the current environment.

Comment: Loose cannon Erdogan has created his own foreign policy dilemmas and hasn't the patience to play the diplomatic scene with integrity and finesse. How long will global powers tolerate this distraction, or is it just part of the Western sideshow? He is not fielding support from his military, a big problem, nor is he on the road to better relations with his public. There is a finite usefulness to him that will end, hopefully some time soon. Until then, EU Beware!

Read More...