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: 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.
Comment: For another perspective on the fate of post-coup Turkey, check out: Will post-coup Turkey take its place in the New Eurasian Century?