GUILTY Coup attempt underway in Turkey, 2016

[Everyday Grace]

Where the Erdogan finger is pointing:

A lawyer for the Turkish government, Robert Amsterdam, said that "there are indications of direct involvement" in the coup attempt by Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric who is living in exile in Pennsylvania. He said he and his firm "have attempted repeatedly to warn the U.S. government of the threat posed" by Gulen and his movement. According to Turkish intelligence sources, he said, "there are signs that Gulen is working closely with certain members of military leadership against the elected civilian government."

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/3e97...lains-cleric-being-blamed-turkey-coup-attempt

Any truth to that claim?

Remains to be seen.

One thing I'm reasonably confident in saying about the current state of political affairs in Turkey:

It is best examined from a perspective that is not limited to dualism.

Fascinating acceleration in recent events, for sure.

 

[Elley Mae]

Where the Erdogan finger is pointing:



http://bigstory.ap.org/article/3e97...lains-cleric-being-blamed-turkey-coup-attempt

Any truth to that claim?

Remains to be seen.

One thing I'm reasonably confident in saying about the current state of political affairs in Turkey:

It is best examined from a perspective that is not limited to dualism.

Fascinating acceleration in recent events, for sure.

Fethullah Gulen: The Islamic scholar Turkey blames for the failed coup

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...slamic-scholar-turkey-blames-for-failed-coup/

The president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, blamed the coup attempt on the work of followers of Fethullah Gulen, an Islamic preacher who lives in exile in Pennsylvania, and who once was an ally of Mr. Erdogan.

http://www.nytimes.com/live/turkey-coup-erdogan/who-is/

the compound.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/G...02bfb8ac7d4f1a!8m2!3d40.8705614!4d-75.3211444

 

[Redux]

I live in NE PA and there is an article on WNEP's website about Gulen...

http://wnep.com/2016/07/15/is-man-living-in-poconos-responsible-for-military-coup-in-turkey/

“I condemn, in the strongest terms, the attempted military coup in Turkey.

Government should be won through a process of free and fair elections, not force.

I pray to God for Turkey, for Turkish citizens, and for all those currently in Turkey that this situation is resolved peacefully and quickly.

As someone who suffered under multiple military coups during the past five decades, it is especially insulting to be accused of having any link to such an attempt. I categorically deny such accusations.”

BBM. My first thought when reading that was that is not the same thing as saying "I didn't do it" or "I had nothing to do with it". IDK though, maybe I've been reading too much about statement analysis.

 

[Elley Mae]

Did Erdogan STAGE the coup? US-based Turkish cleric facing extradition over botched rebellion claims president orchestrated plot to justify a clampdown on civil rights



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ated-plot-justify-clampdown-civil-rights.html

Erdogan has called on US President Barack Obama to extradite Gulen, who is based in Pennsylvania.

 

[Everyday Grace]

While Mr. Erdogan has repeatedly called on the U.S. to either arrest or return Mr. Gulen to Turkey, Turkish officials haven’t yet filed a request to their American counterparts for the cleric’s extradition. The imam, who has been living in the U.S. since 1999, is already on trial in absentia for plotting to overthrow the government.

Over the last several years, as the political spat between the former allies escalated, the Turks never presented Washington with evidence against Mr. Gulen that would be admissible in a U.S. court or stand up to a judicial hearing for extradition, U.S. officials have said.

Turkey, meanwhile, has been going after Mr. Gulen and his network in U.S. courts too, so far with little success.

Cemalettin Hasimi, chief adviser to Turkey’s prime minister, said in an interview Saturday that the government is focused on finishing a dossier of evidence to give to Washington seeking a speedy extradition.

“This coup attempt has escalated the issue to a whole new level,” Mr. Hasimi said.

Robert Amsterdam, a lawyer who is acting on behalf of the Turkish government in numerous complaints brought against Mr. Gulen in the U.S., said he knew of “indications of direct involvement” by Mr. Gulen in the coup attempt from his Turkish intelligence sources, but he declined to provide additional information.

Mr. Amsterdam said he understood that an extradition request from Turkey to the U.S. for Mr. Gulen’s return was within days of happening.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/turkish...thullah-gulen-responsible-for-coup-1468693543

 

[i.b.nora]

Interesting article about the spooks on CNN.

Makes me wonder if the US might have played some role?

Former CIA Officials Give Turkish Coup Plotters Advice On CNN
“I have been involved in coups before,” a former CIA officer said.
The Huffington Post
07/16/2016 09:39 am 09:39:28 |
Daniel Marans Reporter, Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...p-advice_us_578a2d02e4b08608d334c32c?section=

“Oh, for the good old days ― when the CIA regularly assisted military coups d’états in foreign democracies.

Several former spooks appearing on CNN Friday night to discuss the attempted military coup in Turkey had more than a few pointers for the seemingly amateurish military officers leading the takeover efforts. And at least one contributor seemed more disappointed in their performance than relieved that the coup has thus far failed to topple a democratically elected government.

Leading the pack was Robert Baer, a veteran former CIA officer and author ― and, apparently, a former coup participant.

Baer told CNN anchor Anderson Cooper that the Turkish coup was “not professionally done.””​

More...

 

[Dr. Know?]

To me, Turkey would be the last damn place I'd want to go visit. Their opionion of women floors me. The military coup came from Incirlik air base where 1500 US men & women are. Smh We have weapons stored there. Time to move asap.

Mohammed Basha باشا ‏@Yemen411 9h9 hours ago
The Turkish authorities have cut power to the Incirlik air base in the south of #Turkey home to 1,500 US troops.
@FRANCE24
https://twitter.com/Yemen411

 

[Everyday Grace]

The airspace restrictions around Incirlik Air Base were imposed “to prevent rogue aircrafts from targeting civilians and government buildings,” a senior Turkish official said, adding that the government had suspicions that pilots taking part in the coup used the Turkish portion of Incirlik to refuel their aircraft.

Incirlik is a U.S. base about 60 miles from the Syrian border, giving U.S. jets and unmanned drones critical logistics for daily attacks on Islamic State compared with other sites across the region. A U.S. official said the military would compensate by shifting operations to other bases. British bases on nearby Cyprus could be used, as could bases in Iraq.

“U.S. Central Command is adjusting flight operations in the counter-ISIL campaign to minimize any effects on the campaign,” Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said. He added that U.S. officials were working with the Turks to resume air operations there as soon as possible.

The outside power to Incirlik remained shut down after being cut earlier Saturday, officials said, though backup power generators were supplying power to the base.

More:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/turkey-...u-s-airbase-following-coup-attempt-1468684395

 

[Everyday Grace]

The Turkish prime minister (sic), Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, is considered in Washington an erratic and unreliable ally against Isis, only allowing its Nato partner access to Incirlik to fight the group [IS] in 2015.

As Erdoğan and his government have blamed Fethullah Gülen, a cleric currently exiled in Pennsylvania, for the coup, and are urging the US to hand him over, Harmer said it was possible that Erdoğan had closed Incirlik as a gambit to force the Obama administration to extradite him.

In light of the coup attempt, Erdoğan “can close access to air bases to the US that he couldn’t a week ago”, Harmer said.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/16/isis-airstrike-turkey-airspace-us-air-force

 

[Gardenista]

To me, Turkey would be the last damn place I'd want to go visit. Their opionion of women floors me. The military coup came from Incirlik air base where 1500 US men & women are. Smh We have weapons stored there. Time to move asap.

Mohammed Basha باشا ‏@Yemen411 9h9 hours ago
The Turkish authorities have cut power to the Incirlik air base in the south of #Turkey home to 1,500 US troops.
@FRANCE24
https://twitter.com/Yemen411

Sharia/Islam

 

[Elley Mae]

Religious leaders loyal to the president also for the first time used the network of mosques with loudspeakers to urge Turks to go out into the streets in the name of "jihad" (holy war).

http://www.jpost.com/International/...d-putsch-a-strangely-20th-century-coup-460626

 

[Everyday Grace]

There was not chaos at this base," said EUCOM [U.S. European Command] spokesman Navy Capt. Danny Hernandez, describing conditions at Incirlik. "All our assets in Turkey are fully under control and there was no attempt to challenge that status."

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg tweeted earlier in the day that he had confirmed in a Saturday phone call with NATO Supreme Allied Commander Gen. Curtis M. Scaparrotti, who also heads U.S. European Command, that all U.S. and NATO personnel in Turkey were safe and accounted for.

Cook said that while air operations at the Turkish-owned and operated base were halted, the U.S. was "adjusting flight operations in the counter-ISIL campaign to minimize any effects on the campaign."

The U.S. has been launching strikes against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria from other staging areas, including aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean.

Turkey has long been a complicated, sometimes unreliable partner in the fight against the Islamic State. After the U.S.-led air campaign against the Islamic State began in 2014, Turkey at first resisted U.S. requests to launch strikes form Turkish territory, which would shrink flight times for U.S. fighters and drones targeting militants.

After a wave of terrorist attacks, Ankara reversed course in the summer of 2015 and allowed strike operations out of Incirlik, where A-10s, F-15s and drones have routinely taken part in missions. NATO surveillance aircraft also have operated form Turkish facilities.

Stoltenberg, calling Turkey a "valued NATO ally," appealed for calm and restraint "and full respect for Turkey’s democratic institutions and its constitution."

More:
http://www.stripes.com/news/middle-...cirlik-grounding-us-aircraft-at-base-1.419447

 

[GeeEm]

July 17,2016

Turkey attempted coup: 6,000 people detained

Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag says more detentions
Are expected as government purges people allegedly connected to plot


https://www.google.com/amp/www.alja...-detained-160717104541423.html?client=safari#

 

[Everyday Grace]

A number of high ranking soldiers were detained on July 16 in operations which came after security forces' quashing of a coup attempt in the country.

The commander of the 2nd Army Gen. Adem Huduti and its executive officer and Malatya Garrison Commander Avni Angun and the commander of the 3rd Army Gen. Erdal Öztürk were detained in the operations.

Meanwhile, another 10 soldiers, including two high-ranking generals, were also detained.

Akın Öztürk, the former Chief of Air Staff, was also detained as a part of the operations.

In addition, Adana İncirlik 10th Adana Tanker Base Commander Gen. Bekir Ercan was among those who were detained.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/hi...empt.aspx?pageID=517&nID=101669&NewsCatID=341

 

[GeeEm]

July 17, 2016

Live feed from Turkey

http://www.trtworld.com/live

 

[Everyday Grace]

Former U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Eric Edelman and David Phillips, who directs the Peace-building and Human Rights Program at Columbia University:

ERIC EDELMAN: Yes, I mean, Turkey is a pivotal country. It’s a NATO ally. It’s astride several zones of conflict. Of course, it’s a Black Sea literal state, so it has concerns about its neighbor to north, Russia, and what’s happened in Ukraine, the seizure of — annexation of Crimea. But it, of course, also borders Iran, Iraq and Syria. So, it — you know, it sits astride, you know, an incredibly important zone of conflict and one in which our military forces are currently engaged.

And, unfortunately, I think what’s happened in the U.S.-Turkish relationship is on both sides, there’s been an assumption that Turkey is too big, too important to fail and, as a result, there’s been not as much attention in my view as should have been paid to some of these domestic Turkish issues that David and I have been talking about with you, Hari.

HARI SREENIVASAN: Yes.

DAVID PHILLIPS: The Erdogan administration adopted a policy called “zero problems with neighbors” and within a couple of months, it found itself in conflict with almost all its neighbors and those conflicts were really largely of Erdogan’s making. Turkey has historically been a valued member of NATO, but if NATO were being established today because Erdogan’s new Turkey is Islamist, anti-democratic, it simply wouldn’t qualify for membership.

There is also a lot of documentation about Erdogan’s support for jihadi groups, the jihadi highway that ran from Urfa to Raqqah, provided weapons, money, medical care to wounded warriors coming out of Syria. So, Turkey’s hardly been a reliable NATO ally member in this fight against violent extremism in the region.

More:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/attempted-coup-turkey/

 

[Everyday Grace]

Commentary at Reuters:

What provoked this attempted insurrection? Turkey is becoming an unhealthily fractured society. Many people are deeply unhappy with the county’s direction; my guess is that the actual spark of the uprising was Erdogan’s suggestion of citizenship for the 2.5 million Syrian refugees crowding into the country. This will have caused resentment in many quarters. Turkish nationalism is ethnically based – hence the ongoing conflict with its Kurdish population. The idea of a large group of Arabs becoming “Turks” would stick in many a nationalist craw.

It has been suggested that followers of Fetullah Gulen, the Muslim cleric living in self-imposed exile in the United States, were behind the coup effort. Despite Erdogan’s attacks on him and his followers, I do not think this plausible. Gulen has never had a large base of support in the military and has long opposed military intervention in politics. His supporters were in the police, who appear to have remained loyal to Erdogan.

Elections are not imminent. The next presidential, general, and local votes are not due until 2019, so Erdogan is safe as president until then. I suspect, however, that his plans to change the constitution to provide for an all powerful president (with him in that role) are now dead. This coup attempt raises too many questions about his leadership. It will also weaken his hold on AK Parti and therefore the de facto, though unconstitutional, “Strong President” role he has assumed.

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN0ZW13Q?il=0

 

[Everyday Grace]

The alleged mastermind was Gen. Akin Ozturk, who commanded the Turkish air force until last summer and was a member of the Supreme Military Council. He also has been detained and will be charged with treason, officials said.

The air force appears to have been deeply involved, with pilots commandeering F-16 fighter jets and helicopters and seizing control of at least one military air base, Ackinci, outside Ankara.

Some personnel at Incirlik, a major NATO air base that is home to the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in Europe and about 1,000 U.S. troops, are also suspected of taking part in the attempted government overthrow, a senior Turkish official said.

“We suspect that Incirlik was used to refuel hijacked aircraft last night,” he said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject. It appears, he added, that “a small group of Turkish troops stationed at Incirlik supported the coup attempt.”

U.S. officials said the United States had boosted force protection levels on bases in Turkey to their highest level, and the U.S. Embassy in Ankara warned Americans to stay away from Incirlik, outside the southern city of Adana.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...7e0bb0-4baf-11e6-8dac-0c6e4accc5b1_story.html

As yet unconfirmed, but reports are out there that a Turkish Air Force KC-135 tanker from Incirlik was used to refuel F-16s during the attempted coup.

 

[Everyday Grace]

Airspace around Incirlik has been reopened. Full anti-IS ops up and running.

Base still operating on generator power. Base ops said to not be affected.

U.S. warplanes involved in the fight against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria renewed their mission at Incirlik Air Base on Sunday afternoon after Turkey agreed to once again open airspace that was closed Saturday following a failed coup attempt, the Pentagon said.

"After close coordination with our Turkish allies, they have reopened their airspace to military aircraft," Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said. "As a result, counter-ISIL coalition air operations at all air bases in Turkey have resumed," he said, using an acronym for the Islamic State group.

http://www.military.com/daily-news/...reopened-turkish-base-commander-detained.html

 

[Gardenista]

https://twitter.com/WilliamsJon/status/754728686780383236?ref_src=twsrc^tfw

Incredible: @Reuters reports F16s loyal to leaders of failed #TurkeyCoup buzzed Erodgan's plane - but didn't fire