Turkey: Erdogan issues another warrants for 254 Istanbul municipality and staffers over coup

October 3, 2017 by administrator

Turkish authorities have issued detention warrants for 254 Istanbul municipality and staffers of ministries on suspicion of links to the alleged mastermind of last year’s coup attempt.

Prosecutors in Istanbul ordered the detention of 112 current and former staffers of municipalities in the city on Tuesday, Turkey’s official news agency Anadolu reported.

At least 67 of these suspects have so far been detained since the issuance of the arrest warrants, the news agency added.

In Ankara, prosecutors issued arrest warrants for 142 staffers of the education and sport ministries, most of whom had already been fired from their jobs over their alleged links to the US-based opposition figure Fethullah Gulen, whom the Turkish government accuses of having orchestrated the attempted military coup.

According to the agency, the suspects were accused of being users of the ByLock mobile application, which the Turkish government claims to be the top communication tool among members of the Gulen movement.

The latest warrants mark a fresh escalation against the Gulen movement. On Monday, the Interior Ministry said about 1,000 people had been arrested over the previous week on allegations of links to what authorities described as the “Gulenist Terror Group.”

Turkey witnessed a coup attempt on July 15, 2016, when a faction of the Turkish military declared that the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was no more in charge of the country.

However, over the course of some two days, the putsch was suppressed. Almost 250 people were killed and nearly 2,200 others wounded in the abortive coup.

Gulen has denied the charges of having masterminded the coup.

In a post-coup crackdown, Turkey has suspended or dismissed more than 150,000 judges, policemen, teachers, and civil servants and has arrested nearly 50,000 others.

Many rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have denounced Ankara’s heavy clampdown on perceived putschists.

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German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel seeks tougher EU line on Turkey

August 5, 2017 by administrator

Hundreds face judges in Turkey coup trial

Gabriel wrote a letter to EU leaders slamming Turkish President Erdogan’s politics and calling for the bloc to scale back its relations with Ankara. His statements underline an icy relationship with no thaw in sight.

Germany’s foreign minister called on the European Union (EU) to take harsher measures against the government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the German weekly magazine Der Spiegel reported on Friday.

Der Spiegel saw a letter from Sigmar Gabriel dated July 24 to EU top diplomat Federica Mogherini and the Commissioner for EU Enlargement Johannes Hahn. In it, the German minister described Erdogan’s politics as being “in blatant contradiction to our European value system and (demanding) a clear answer.”

Gabriel also accused Ankara of counteracting the EU’s efforts to maintain a good relationship “through increasingly aggressive and unconstructive politics,” the foreign minister wrote.

Gabriel’s words reflect a growing tensions between the EU and Turkey. The EU has criticized Erdogan’s government for imprisoning alleged supporters of terrorism, including German-Turkish journalist Deniz Yucel, and purging thousands of perceived political opponents from the ranks of government, education and military after the failed July 2016 coup.

The dispute between Berlin and Ankara recently escalated after Turkey detained human rights activists including German national Peter Steudtner.

Germany has also pulled its troops from the Turkish airbase in Incirlik after a spat over access to the base.

Harsher measures

In his letter, Gabriel called on the EU to reduce pre-accession help provided to Turkey. The non-EU member country has been in full membership talks since 2005. The talks have stalled for years.

Gabriel additionally outlined that aid should only be provided within the framework of initiatives that foster democracy and rule of law in order to assist Turkish civil organizations instead of Erdogan’s government.

His proposals for harsher measures also extended to the realm of Turkish businesses. The foreign minister said that the European Investment Bank (EIB), the union’s non-profit lending institution that seeks to foster European integration and social cohesion, should curtail its financial support for future projects in Turkey.

“The basic principle should be that we do not attempt new business initiatives right now,” Gabriel wrote, in relation to EIB financing.

Gabriel’s letter was dated one day before Mogherini, Hahn and EU affairs minister Omer Celik met with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Brussels to discuss the relationship between EU and Turkey including future membership in the bloc, immigration and Turkey’s demands for visa-free travel for its citizens.

In the aftermath of the meeting, the EU leaders announced that Turkey’s long-standing desire to join the EU had been frozen for the time being, although talks between Brussels and Ankara would continue.

Other politicians across the EU have called upon the bloc to take a stronger stance against Turkey. The European Parliament in Strasbourg held a non-binding vote in early July to suspend membership talks with Ankara.

The European Council also resolved not to open new areas in membership talks with Turkey.

Turkey’s request to join the EU has yet to be formally suspended.

Suspects in Turkey attempted coup face 37 life terms each Martyrs Bridge activities in Istanbul

July 14, 2017 by administrator

Turkey,gulen,supporterThe investigation into the events that unfolded during the July 15 coup attempt on the July 15 Martyrs Bridge has been completed, with prosecutors seeking 37 aggravated life sentences each for all 143 suspects, Hurriyet Daily News reports.

Some 34 people, including two police officers, were killed on the bridge that was blocked by soldiers participating in the coup attempt, widely believed to have been masterminded by the followers of the US-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen.

Erol Olcok, who was the owner of an advertising agency, and his son, Abdullah Tayyip Olçok, were among those killed on the bridge, which was called the “Bosphorus Bridge” before the thwarted attempt.

According to the indictment prepared by prosecutors Hikmet Pak and Bülent Başar from the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office’s Terror and the Organized Crime Investigation Bureau, the suspects, of whom 135 are under arrest, are accused of “attempting to remove the Turkish Parliament or preventing it from carrying out its duties,” “attempting to remove the government of the Turkish Republic or preventing it from carrying out its duties,” “attempting to remove the constitutional order” and “intentional killing.”

Eight suspects without arrest, including privates, left the bridge after “understanding the gravity of the situation,” said the indictment from 318 complainants.

Moreover, the indictment said the first deaths on July 15 occurred on the bridge after a tank used by coup soldiers made artillery shooting and the soldiers opened fire with long-barreled weapons starting at around 12:40 a.m. on July 16.

New security camera footage was also featured in the indictment, which showed that soldiers blocked the roads starting from 9:45 p.m. on July 15.

While the crowds were seen gathering on the bridge at around 12:40 a.m. on July 16, the number of people resisting the coup soldiers were increasing at around 2:00 a.m.

The footage showed people walking towards the bridge from the European side at around 2:45 a.m.

In addition, Major Ahmet Taştan was seen ordering coup soldiers to open fire on civilians, while former Lt. Col. Turgay Ödemiş was also present.

According to the footage, the coup soldiers opened fire on civilians and the recordings stop with civilians walking towards the soldiers, as the tanks fired artillery shots at 6:35 a.m.

Report: UAE paid $3bn to finance coup attempt in Turkey:

June 13, 2017 by administrator

The United Arab Emirates financed a high-profile coup attempt last year in Turkey and paid about three billion dollars to the putschists, a columnist in a Turkish daily has claimed.

Mehmet Acet, a columnist for Yeni Safak daily, said on Tuesday that Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu meant the United Arab Emirates when he recently hinted at a Muslim country that spent billions to topple the Turkish government in the coup in July 2016.

Cavusoglu said in recent remarks that a foreign country funneled money to the putschists while making efforts to topple President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“We know that a country provided $3 billion in financial support for the coup attempt in Turkey and exerted efforts to topple the government in illegal ways. On top of that, it is a Muslim country,” said the Turkish foreign minister, as quoted by Acet.

Acet elaborated on his claims in an interview to the Turkish media, saying sources in the Turkish Foreign Ministry had confirmed that the country behind the coup was indeed the United Arab Emirates.

“The minister did not name the country. However, sources from the foreign ministry have confirmed that it was the UAE,” Acet told Daily Sabah newspaper.

Other sources have also claimed that a media magnet close to the government in Abu Dhabi had indeed transferred money to Turkey weeks before the coup was carried out. They said the money had been funneled to elements loyal to Fethullah Gulen, a cleric based in the United States who is accused by Ankara of masterminding the coup attempt.

Right after the coup was declared over on July 16 last year, Turkey launched a massive crackdown to hunt the plotters. The widening action then led to more than 40,000 arrests. More than 100,000 people have also been discharged from their jobs.

Turkey has not directly accused a country of having a role in the coup, which killed over 250 people. However, Cavusoglu’s remarks come amid a widening diplomatic standoff in the Persian Gulf region. Turkey has been defending Qatar against allegations of terrorism by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates while it has repeatedly endorsed Qatar’s support for senior officials from the Muslim Brotherhood, a popular party outlawed in Egypt since three years ago under pressure from the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

Ankara and Abu Dhabi are also at odds over the situation in Libya, where the two countries support different sides of the conflict.

Source: http://presstv.com/Detail/2017/06/13/525164/Turkey-coup-UAE

Turkey: New Revelation: Military, Intel Chiefs Met For 6 Hours The Day Before Coup Attempt

February 27, 2017 by administrator

(Stockholmcf)While many questions about what happened on the day and night of a July 15 coup attempt in Turkey persist, it was recently revealed that Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar and National Intelligence Organization (MİT) Undersecretary Hakan Fidan had a six-hour meeting in Ankara a day before the coup attempt, news website OdaTV reported on Monday.

Müyesser Yıldız wrote in her column on the site that she has confirmed the meeting, which was revealed by Tech. Sgt. Mehmet Bilge during his defense in court where he along with others is standing trial on putsch-related charges.

According to Yıldız, the meeting of Fidan and Akar took place following a diploma ceremony at the Special Forces Command in Ankara on July 14.

“The specialization course diploma ceremony at the Special Forces Command was first planned to take place on July 15, a Friday, as all previous ceremonies had been. But a few days earlier it was announced that the ceremony would be held on July 14, on Thursday,” wrote Yıldız, underlining the odd change in the day of the ceremony.

According to the article, despite the fact that only the deputy chief of general staff used to participate in the Special Forces Command ceremony, Gen. Akar chose to attend this particular diploma ceremony. Although the ceremony ended at 18:00, Akar and Fidan had a one-on-one meeting until 00:30.

“If the July 15 [coup attempt] had not taken place, this meeting would probably never have attracted attention… Is it not interesting that the two secret names of the coup attempt had a six-hour meeting just a day before the coup and that no one has talked about the meeting for seven months, despite the fact that many knew about it?” asked Yıldız at the end of her article.

The role of Chief of General Staff Gen. Akar and MİT Undersecretary Fidan has been at the center of many questions concerning the July 15 coup attempt. According to official reports, a major informed MİT about the coup plan at 14:00 and Fidan was with Akar at military headquarters until 20:30, half an hour before the failed coup attempt was launched.

Despite both President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım having expressed their uneasiness with Fidan and Akar for failing to inform them about a coup attempt on July 15, and the fact that they had learned of the coup plan six hours earlier notwithstanding, the two retained their posts while over 130,000 people from state institutions were purged and jailed by the government after the coup attempt.

The government also prevented the parliamentary Coup Investigation Commission, which was set up to investigate the failed coup attempt, from questioning Akar and Fidan about the putsch.

“We got this information … but we did not have a chance to prove or verify it … because the parliamentary Coup Investigation Commission was annulled by [President] Erdoğan,” said Aykut Erdoğdu, an opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy and member of the commission, in a Twitter message about the article by Müyesser Yıldız.

In December Erdoğdu had hinted that the failed coup on July 15 was a calculated move on the part of President Erdoğan and the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government.

Erdoğdu also said in October that the AKP was trying to obscure the realities behind the failed coup attempt on July 15 since the commission was being prevented from doing its job by “hidden hands.”

“The strongest and dirtiest hidden hand [to prevent the commission from continuing its investigation] is the ‘palace’ [Erdoğan’s] hand. It seems like the July 15 coup attempt was a Middle Eastern attempt,” Erdoğdu said.

Columnist Mehmet Tezkan also criticized the commission: “The parliamentary Coup Commission has walked around the coup attempt for three months. They tried their best not to reveal how the coup attempt was carried out, who took part in it and who was trapped.”

Although the Turkish military stated on July 27 that 8,651 military members including cadets and conscripts took part in the July 15 coup attempt, the government has dismissed over 22,000 military personnel including high-ranking generals.

A report prepared by the EU Intelligence Analysis Centre (IntCen) revealed that although President Erdoğan and the Turkish government immediately put the blame for the July 15 failed coup on the faith-based Gülen movement, the coup attempt was staged by a range of Erdoğan’s opponents due to fears of an impending purge, according to a report by The Times newspaper on Jan. 17.

The Aldrimer.no website reported on Jan. 25 that NATO sources believe the coup was staged by the president of Turkey himself.

Speaking to vocaleurope.com, a former Turkish officer who served at NATO headquarters in Brussels but was sacked and recalled to Turkey as part of an investigation into the failed coup on July 15 claims that the putsch was clumsily executed and never intended to bring down the government, but rather served as a vehicle for President Erdoğan to eliminate opponents and the ultranationalists to take a prominent role in the military and impose their “Eurasian” agenda on the country.

A report published by the German Focus magazine in August claimed that Turkish government members decided to put the blame for the coup attempt on Gülen half an hour after the uprising and agreed to begin a purge of Gülen followers the next day.

source: http://stockholmcf.org/new-revelation-military-intel-chiefs-met-for-6-hours-the-day-before-coup-attempt/

Thousands of Turkey coup prisoners ‘raped, starved and hogtied’ “Authentic Turkish Crime”

November 24, 2016 by administrator

Amnesty International says it has ‘credible evidence’ Turkish police are holding detainees, denying them food, water and medical treatment and in the worst cases some have been subjected to severe beatings and torture

BY CHRIS HUGHES,

Turkish troops imprisoned after the failed military coup are being raped, starved and left without water for days, it is claimed.

Many of the 10,000 detainees are locked up in horses’ stables and sports halls – some hogtied in horrific stress positions, according to human rights campaigners.

Amnesty International has called for immediate access to prisoners after the coup a week ago which sparked a brutal crackdown and a three-month state of emergency.

More than 200 died in the uprising which aimed to topple dictatorial President Recep Erdogan – and 1,500 were injured.

Amnesty says it has ‘credible evidence’ Turkish police are holding detainees in stress positions for up to 48 hours, denying them food, water and medical treatment and in the worst cases some have been subjected to severe beatings and torture, including rape.

John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International’s Europe director, said: “Reports of abuse including beatings and rape in detention are extremely alarming, especially given the scale of detentions that we have seen in the past week.

“Despite chilling images and videos of torture that have been widely broadcast across the country, the government has remained conspicuously silent on the abuse. “

Amnesty spoke to lawyers, doctors and a person on duty in a detention facility about the conditions in which detainees were being held.

They heard alarming accounts of torture and other ill-treatment of detainees, particularly at the Ankara Police Headquarters sports hall, Ankara Başkent sports hall and the riding club stables there.

Two lawyers in Ankara working on behalf of detainees told Amnesty International that detainees said they witnessed senior military officers in detention being raped with a truncheon or finger by police officers.

A person on duty at the Ankara Police Headquarters sports hall saw a detainee with severe wounds consistent with having been beaten, including a large swelling on his head.

The detainee could not stand up or focus his eyes and he eventually lost consciousness.

Source: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/thousands-turkey-coup-prisoners-raped-8485304?service=responsive#ICID=sharebar_twitter

“With September 12 coup in Turkey, Armenian Genocide became a security issue”

October 17, 2016 by administrator

Photo credit: Berge Arabian

By Vartan Estukya

Emre Can Dağlıoğlu made a presentation titled as “September 12th Regime and the Re-Shaped Identity of Armenians in Turkey” in “Critical Approaches to Armenian Identity in 21st Century: Vulnerability, Resilience, and Transformation” conference. We talked to him about his presentation and coup’s effects on the Armenian identity.

Emre Can Dağlıoğlu is a PhD candidate in Clark University Research Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies and he made a presentation titled as “September 12th Regime and the Re-Shaped Identity of Armenians in Turkey” in “Critical Approaches to Armenian Identity in 21st Century: Vulnerability, Resilience, and Transformation” conference. By way of his presentation, we talked about coup’s effects on the Armenian identity; priest Manuel Yergatyan and pastor Hrant Küçükgüzelyan who were detained during the coup regime; Levon Ekmekçiyan, who perpetrated the Esenboğa attack; and Artin Penik, who committed suicide by burning himself in Taksim square for protesting that attack.

Can we say that September 12, 1980 coup is the milestone of the absolute denial of the Armenian Genocide?

Of course the denial of the Armenian Genocide doesn’t start with September 12 coup. Since the establishment of the republic, the state wanted to bury the history. And there is no doubt that this denialism turned the genocide into an endless process. With the coup, the state institutionalized the denialism. In a time when there had been 50^th anniversary demonstrations, the killings of ASALA and Justice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide, and the rise of the concept of confrontation in the world, the military coup came to the help of Turkey. According to Güven Gürkan Öztan and Ömer Turan, the official theses of the denial were created by the ministry of foreign affair and universities, consolidated by National Security Committee and popularized by media and ministry of education.

How did the coup change the outlook of the majority of people in Turkey on the Armenian question?

September 12 regime used the Armenians for justifying the coup. Between 1975 and 1980, ASALA and Justice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide carried out more than 70 attacks against their targets in Turkey. And the putschists had been saying that these attacks were made possible by the unqualified political leaders of ‘70s and the anarchists who rendered the state desperate. Kenan Evren had been saying this in many of his speeches. Thus, the military regime means the end of this desperation. In this context, September 12 regime eliminated the historical background of the Armenian question and reduced it to “a current security issue”. During this period, the newspapers often published the photos of the murdered Unionist leaders and Talat Pasha. On the one hand, honor of these people were restored by treating them as martyrs killed without a reason and on the other hand, it was implied that “Armenians have always been violent”. I mean, the whole issue was presented as the following: Armenians perpetrated violence and Turks “rightfully” responded to it, and this is a historical pattern.

How did September 12 coup affect the Armenian identity?

Military regime both suspected and instrumentalized the Armenians in Turkey. “Armenian terror” abroad and Armenian members of the left-wing organizations in Turkey were added to the existent identity policies of the republic. This means that Armenians became the usual suspects more than ever. On the other hand, the state used the Armenians in Turkey as a propaganda tool in the face of the Armenian question. This is a common phenomenon in the history of Turkish republic. However, junta regime took it a step further and integrated the prominent figures in Armenian society into the lobbying activities for Turkey in foreign countries. In 1982, three Armenians were included in the group, which was formed by the ministry of foreign affairs with the purpose of lobbying for Turkey. The common ground of this binary identity was clearly the Armenian Genocide. The state demanded an absolute silence from the Armenian society in terms of the Armenian Genocide. April 24 commemorations abroad had been openly criminalized.

You assess this identity based on which figures?

I assess this period based on 4 Armenians, who were headlined in the newspapers remarkably often. First one is Priest Manuel Yergatyan, a priest from Istanbul assigned by Jerusalem Patriarchate. He was arrested without any legal justification on the charge of making propaganda against Turkey and sentenced to 14 years in prison. He had been subjected to physical and psychological torture. Second one Pastor Hrant Küçükgüzelyan. He had been trying to replant the Armenian culture in the children who came to Istanbul from Anatolia and this effort cost him dearly. He stayed in prison almost for a year and was accused of trying to turn Turkish children into Armenian and communist. The third one is Levon Ekmekçiyan, one of the ASALA militants who perpetrated the Esenboğa Airport attack. State continued to use him as a propaganda tool, even after he was executed by hanging on January 1983. And the last is Artin Penik. 3 days after the Esenboğ attack, he committed suicide by burning himself in Taksim square in order to protest ASALA.

What kind of a part did this new identity play in the stories of these figures?

The different stories of these figures reveal the new boundaries determined for Armenian identity. These boundaries were determined by emphasizing what an Armenian citizen should and should not be. The case of Priest Yergatyan reveals that attending April 24 commemoration is an offense and points out the danger of having strong ties with the Armenian Diaspora. Küçükgüzelyan indicates that the efforts of preserving and promoting Armenian identity are serious crimes in the eyes of the state. Furthermore, it implies that no one should dare to run afoul of the state bureaucracy. And Ekmekçiyan was an intimidation and his case shows that Armenians had been used as propaganda tool in different ways. In and outside the country, the state used him to tell “the real story” behind the Armenian question by using “the Armenian terrorist” narration. And Artin Penik, as a “dead Armenian” was used as a role model for Armenians in Turkey.

Apart from these figures, many other Armenians, who weren’t engaged in politics, had been detained during the same period. In your opinion, what was the reason?

Many people had been detained as part of Manuel Yergatyan case. Priest Yergatyan was detained on the airport, while he was going to Jerusalem with young people who wanted study theology. The justification of his detention was the foreign currency he had; you know, it was prohibited to carry foreign current back then. Afterwards, as Hrant Dink said, they detained everyone involved: the ones who gave that money, the ones who exchanged the money and the ones who advised those students to study in Jerusalem. These people, which were prominent figures in Armenian society, had been subjected to torture for a month. This was done with the purpose of intimidating Armenians, that is for sure. The state implied that if you cross the boundaries determined by the state, you would get into trouble with meaningless accusations. These detained people also became isolated within the society. This indicates that the fear had been deeply rooted in the society. In turn, this harmed the relations within the society. Once, I wanted to talk to one of these detained people. He talked about the pain of being isolated by the society and said that he doesn’t want to talk about it in order not to evoke that pain all over again. Moreover, Yergatyan and the students amount to a relationship between diaspora and Armenians in Turkey. According to coup regime, diaspora was equal to ASALA, which was of course equal to terrorism. A contact with diaspora was turned into an activity to be punished. Thus, the gap between “the Armenians inside” and diaspora made larger.

Erdogan Fake Coup Atrocity News Update

October 5, 2016 by administrator

540 soldiers from Turkish naval, air forces dismissed over alleged Gülen links

Some 540 soldiers from the naval and air forces command have been temporarily dismissed over their suspected links to U.S.-based preacher Fethullah Gülen and his network, who is accused of orchestrating a failed coup in July, the Defense Ministry said.
Some 427 of the soldiers were from the air forces while the other 113 were from the naval forces.
Some 368 of those temporarily dismissed were officers.
A total of 3,699 military personnel have been dismissed from the army, according to the ministry.

66 more judges, prosecutors dismissed in coup attempt probe

Turkey’s Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) dismissed 66 more judges and prosecutors on Oct. 5 over their links to the movement of Fethullah Gülen, the U.S.-based Islamic preacher who is seen as the main suspect behind the July 15 coup attempt.

The total number of dismissed judges and prosecutors increased to 3,456 with the latest dismissals as part of an investigation into the attempted takeover.

The previously sacked judges included Rüstem Eryılmaz, the former head of the case into the killing of Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink in 2007, and Ömer Diken, the head of the former “Balyoz” (Sledgehammer) coup plot case.

Mehmet Ali Pekgüzel, the prosecutor in the Ergenekon coup plot case, was also dismissed.

The government says Gülen’s followers spent years infiltrating institutions with the goal of overthrowing the state.

255 companies seized so far in Turkey’s post-coup attempt measures: TMSF

A total of 255 companies have been seized by the Saving Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) so far in the Turkish government’s post-coup attempt measures, TMSF President Şakir Ercan Gül has said.

“Some 255 companies have been seized so far,” said Gül in an interview on private broadcaster BloombergHT, Reuters reported.

He said the TMSF is responsible for running seized companies in the most efficient way but stressed that the process “has not been easy.”

Many companies have been appointed trustee panels or directly transferred to the TMSF over suspected links to the movement of U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, believed to be behind the failed coup attempt.

Row erupts between Nigeria, Turkey over Gülenists: Report

A row has reportedly erupted between Nigeria and Turkey over the followers of U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen, who is believed to have orchestrated the attempted July 15 failed coup.

According to the Nigerian government, Turkey arrested or detained a total of 52 Nigerian students receiving education in Istanbul “as a retaliatory measure” due to their suspected links to the Gülenist movement after Abuja showed unwillingness to shut down Gülen-linked schools.

Turkey minister: Aim of coup attempt was to divide country between Armenia and Kurdistan

September 27, 2016 by administrator

Nihat Zeybekçi, the Minister of the Economy of Turkey, made a scandalous statement with respect to the coup attempt in July.

During a talk with representatives of NGOs and businesses, Zeybekçi said the objective of this coup attempt was to divide Turkey and create two “istans,” reported the SonDakika news website of the country.

“They want to make real the map that was drawn 100 years ago,” he noted.

And when asked by a reporter what these two “istans” mean, the Turkish minister responded that they were Armenia (Ermenistan, in Turkish), and Kurdistan.

Were Erdogan and Obama False-Flag Military coup to fool Putin and invade Syria?

September 1, 2016 by administrator

By Prof Michel Chossudovsky,

Global Research, August 29, 2016

In mid-July, President Erdogan pointed his finger at the CIA, accusing US intelligence of having supported a failed coup directed against his government. Turkish officials pointed to a deterioration of US-Turkey relations following Washington’s refusal to extradite Fethullah Gülen, the alleged architect of the failed coup.

Erdogan’s Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag was categorical:

“If the US does not deliver (Gulen), they will sacrifice relations with Turkey for the sake of a terrorist”

Public opinion was led to believe that relations with the US had not only deteriorated, but that Erdogan had vowed to restore “an axis of friendship” with Moscow, including “cooperation in the defence sector”. This was a hoax.

Turkey’s Invasion of Syria

The implementation of the Turkish invasion required routine consultations with the US and NATO, coordination of military logistics, intelligence, communications systems, coordination of ground and air operations, etc. To be effectively carried out these military endeavors required a cohesive and “friendly” US-Turkey relationship.

We are not dealing with a piecemeal military initiative. Turkey’s Operation Euphrates Shield could not have taken place without the active support of the Pentagon, which ultimately calls the shots in the war on Syria.

The likely scenario is that from mid July to mid-August US, NATO and Turkish officials were actively involved in planning the next stage of the war on Syria: an (illegal) invasion led by Turkish ground-forces, backed by the US and NATO.

The Failed Coup Sets the Stage for a Ground Invasion

1. Massive purges within the armed forces and government were implemented in the immediate wake of the July coup. They had been planned well in advance. ”Arrested immediately were 2,839 army personnel with 2,745 Judges and Prosecutors ordered detained… In under a week 60,000 people had been fired or detained and 2,300 institutions closed” … “ (See Felicity Arbuthnot, Global Research, August 2, 2016)

2.The coup was intended to fail. Erdogan had advanced knowledge of the coup and so did Washington. There was no conspiracy directed by the CIA against Erdogan. Quite the opposite, the failed coup was in all likelihood engineered by the CIA in liaison with Erdogan. It was intended to consolidate and reinforce the Erdogan regime as well as rally the Turkish people behind their president and his military agenda “in the name of democracy”.

3. The purges within the Armed Forces were intended to get rid of members of the military hierarchy who were opposed to an invasion of Syria. Did the CIA assist Erdogan in establishing the lists of military officers, judges and senior government officials to be arrested or fired? The Turkish media was also targeted, many of which were closed down.

4. Erdogan used the July 15 coup to accuse Washington of supporting the Gulen movement while seeking a fake rapprochement with Moscow. He flew to St Petersburg on August 9, for a behind closed doors meeting with President Putin. In all likelihood, the scenario of a rift between Ankara and Washington coupled with the “my friend Putin” narrative had been approved by the Obama administration. It was part of a carefully designed intelligence ploy coupled with media disinformation. President Erdogan, vowed according to Western media reports: “to restore an ‘axis of friendship’ between Ankara and Moscow amid a growing rift between Turkey and the West.”

5. While “mending the fence” with Russia, Turkey’s military and intelligence apparatus was involved in planning the invasion of Northern Syria in liaison with Washington and NATO headquarters in Brussels. The underlying objective is to ultimately confront and weaken Syria’s military allies: Russia, Iran and Hezbollah.

In St Petersburg in the immediate wake of the July 15 failed coup, Erdogan thanked his “dear friend” Vladimir Putin.

“The fact Mr Putin called me the next day after the coup attempt was a very strong psychological factor,” he said at a joint press conference. “The axis of friendship between Moscow and Ankara will be restored,” he said. Telegraph, August 7, 2016

Did Putin know that the failed coup, covertly supported by the CIA, was meant to fail? One suspects that Russian intelligence was aware of the ploy and was also informed regarding Turkey’s invasion plans:

“Your visit today, despite a very difficult situation regarding domestic politics, indicates that we all want to restart dialogue and restore relations between Russia and Turkey,” Mr Putin said as the pair met in the city’s Constantine Palace.

… Mr Putin on Tuesday said Russia would “step by step” lift sanctions, … Mr Erdogan in turn promised to back major Russian energy projects in Turkey, including the construction of the country’s first nuclear power station and a gas pipeline to Europe.

He also said the two countries would step up “cooperation in the defence sector,” but did not elaborate.

The Putin-Erdogan Saint Petersburg meeting was interpreted by the media as a rapprochement with Moscow in response to the alleged involvement of the CIA in the failed coup.

According to the Washington Post, an improvised about-turn in US-NATO-Turkey relations had occurred despite Erdogan’s “friendly” encounter with Putin:

NATO went out of its way Wednesday to insist that Turkey — whose president this week visited Moscow and promised a new level of cooperation with the man he repeatedly called his “dear friend,” Russian President Vladimir Putin — remains a “valued ally” whose alliance membership “is not in question.”

In a statement posted on its website, NATO said it was responding to “speculative press reports regarding NATO’s stance regarding the failed coup in Turkey and Turkey’s NATO membership.”

A nonsensical report. In actuality, the Pentagon, NATO, the Turkish High Command and Israel are in permanent liaison. Israel is a de facto member of NATO, it has a comprehensive bilateral military and intelligence relationship with Turkey.

With the invasion of the border area of Northern Syria and the influx of Turkish tanks and armoured vehicles, the Turkey-Russia relationship is in crisis. And that is the ultimate objective of US foreign policy.

Russian forces are acting on behalf of their Syrian ally.

How will the Kremlin and Russia’s High Command respond to what constitutes a US-Turkey-NATO ground invasion of Syria?

How will they confront Turkish and allied forces? One assumes that Russia will avoid direct military confrontation.

After the US, Turkey is NATO’s heavy weight.

Sofar the Turkish op is limited to a small border territory. Nonetheless it constitutes and important landmark in the evolution of the Syria war: invasion of a sovereign country in derogation of international law. Washington’s endgame remains “regime change” in Damascus.

Is the military initiative a preamble for a larger military undertaking on the part of Turkey supported by US-NATO? In many regards, Turkey is acting as a US proxy:

Turkey’s incursion was backed by US air-cover, drones, and embedded special forces per the WSJ. These were there largely to prevent Russia and Syria from even thinking about taking action against the invading forces.

Turkey is moving into Syria not just with its own military, but with thousands of “rebel opposition groups” including US-backed FSA brigades allied with AlQaeda/Nusra/Sham and the child head-chopping al-Zinki who are reported to form the vanguard. Syrian territory is outright being turned over to them by the Turkish military, simply exchanging control from one group of terrorist jihadis (ISIS) to others who are more media acceptable and more direct proxies of the Erdogan regime, the U.S., Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

That said, ISIS has not resisted the Turkish advance at all – simply “melting away” (or exchanging one set of uniforms for another?). (Moon of Alabama

Do the SAA Syrian forces have the military capabilities of confronting Turkish ground forces without Russian and Iranian support? How will Tehran react to the influx of Turkish forces? Will it come to the rescue of its Syrian ally?

An “incident” could be used as a pretext to justify a broader NATO-led war. Article 5 of the Washington Treaty (NATO’s founding document) states under the doctrine of “collective security” that an attack against one member state of the Atlantic Alliance (e.g. Turkey) is an attack against all members states of the Atlantic Alliance.

Dangerous crossroads. With the incursion of Turkish ground forces, military confrontation with Syria’s allies, namely Iran and Russia, is a distinct possibility which could lead to a process of escalation beyond Syria’s borders.

The Erdogan-Jo Biden Meeting

From Washington’s perspective, this ground invasion sets the stage for a possible annexation of part of Northern Syria by Turkey. It also opens the door for the deployment of US-NATO ground force operations directed against central and southern Syria.

Erdogan met up with Vice President Biden on August 23, following the influx of Turkish tanks into Northern Syria. The invasion is carefully coordinated with the US which provided extensive air force protection. There is no rift between Ankara and Washington, quite the opposite:

It [is] difficult to believe that Turkey truly suspected the US of an attempted decapitation of the nation’s senior leadership in a violent, abortive coup just last month, only to be conducting joint operations with the US inside Syria with US military forces still based within Turkish territory.

What is much more likely is that the coup was staged to feign a US-Turkish fallout, draw in Russia and allow Turkey to make sweeping purges of any elements within the Turkish armed forces that might oppose a cross-border foray into Syria, a foray that is now unfolding. (See The New Atlas, Global Research, August 24, 2016)

Media reports convey the illusion that the Biden-Erdogan meetings were called to discuss the extradition of the alleged architect of the failed coup Gulen. This was a smokescreen. Jo Biden who had also met Erdogan back in January, gave the green-light on behalf of Washington for a joint US-Turkey-NATO military incursion into Syria.

The Kurdish Question

The invasion is not directed against Daesh (ISIS) which is protected by Ankara, it is geared towards fighting SAA forces as well as Kurdish YPG forces, which are “officially” supported by the US. The US supported ISIS-Daesh and Al Qaeda affiliated rebels are working hand in glove with the Turkish invaders.

The invasion is also part of a longstanding project by Turkey of creating a “safe-haven” within Northern Syria (see map above) which can be used to extend US-NATO-Turkey military operations Southwards into Syria’s heartland.

Washington has warned its Kurdish allies not to confront Turkish forces:

Biden said the Kurds, who Turkey claims intend to establish a separate state along a border corridor in conjunction with Turkey’s own Kurdish population, “cannot, will not, and under no circumstances will get American support if they do not keep” what he said was a commitment to return to the east.

Washington will no doubt eventually clash with Ankara with regard to Turkey’s project of territorial expansion in Northern Syria. Washington’s longstanding objective is to create a Kurdish State in Northern Syria, within the framework of a territorial breakup of both Syria and Iraq. (see US National War Academy map below). In a bitter irony, this “New Middle East” project also consists in annexing part of Turkey to the proposed Kurdish State. In other words, Turkey’s New Ottoman objective of territorial expansion encroaches upon Washington’s design to fragment Iraq, Syria, Iran as well as Turkey. In other words, America’s ultimate imperial design is to weaken Turkey as a regional power.

The Pentagon has defined a military roadmap: “The road to Tehran goes through Damascus.” The invasion of Northern Syria creates conditions for a broader war.

Moreover, on the US agenda is a longstanding objective, namely to wage war on Iran. In this regard, US military strategy largely consists in creating conditions for America’s staunchest allies (Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Israel) to confront Iran, and act indirectly on behalf of US interests. i.e. “do the job for us”.

Source: http://www.globalresearch.ca/us-nato-turkey-invasion-of-northern-syria-cia-failed-turkey-coup-lays-groundwork-for-broader-middle-east-war/5542921