Turkey’s Failed Coup and the United States

Ever since Turkey’s failed coup, the pro-government media has pointed the finger at the United States for actually planning the military intervention. It is not just the media, however. The leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (quoted below) and a number of government figures have all insinuated that the failed coup was carried out with Washington’s support and/or planning. This week, a Turkish parliamentary delegation is visiting Washington, DC, and New York City to press the Turkish government’s case on the extradition of Fethullah Gulen, the Turkish cleric who resides in Saylorsburg, PA, whom the Turks are alleging Washington colluded with in the failed coup. The delegation would likely get a more serious hearing in the United States if influential parts of the Turkish press and political leaders did not insist that Washington was responsible. Have a look…

• İbrahim Karagül, “The US tried to assassinate Erdoğan!” Yeni Şafak, July 19, 2016.

I’ll say it loud and clear:

The U.S. administration planned a coup in Turkey through the Gülen terror organization and tried to cause a civil war, make our people kill each other.

The U.S. is the one who planned and applied this coup attempt. Those generals, those traitors got all the instructions from Gülen and he conveyed the orders of those who planned the intervention.

The U.S. administration which protects a terrorist organization should be declared as a country that supports terrorism. This country, which is still carrying out operations on Turkey through Gülen, directed its final attack especially on our country and rained bullets on our civilian people through Gülen’s terrorists.

I am saying it loud and clear:

The U.S. administration directly planned to kill the president of the Republic of Turkey and implemented this plan. The operation aimed at martyring President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Marmaris was activated through Gülen’s terrorists, the assassination team.

I repeat: The attack aimed at martyring Erdoğan was planned by the U.S., in the U.S., directly through Gülen’s terrorists and the instructions were given by them.

• Editorial Board, “Turkish public asks U.S. for evidence it’s not behind the coup,” Daily Sabah, July 28, 2016.

Turkey and the entire nation are very disappointed with its ally’s response to the July 15 coup attempt. There is widespread belief that the U.S. is at it again and is behind this plot, similar to the implicit support it gave to the 1980 coup. Public trust toward Western alliances is harmed. The U.S.’s stance toward Turkey is and should be observed with consternation by its allies.

• A Daily Sabah Twitter poll on July 22 asked, “Which institution of the US provided largest support to Gülenist terror group?”

• “Turkey is in big danger if US was behind coup attempt: MHP leader,” Hürriyet Daily News, July 26, 2016.

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli has responded to rumors about alleged U.S. involvement in the July 15 failed coup attempt in Turkey, saying “the problem is serious” if the Pentagon or the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was behind the plot…“It is said that this U.S. person secretly came to Turkey twice before July 15 and had meetings full of secrets in [the eastern province of] Erzurum and the [southern province of] Adana’s İncirlik Air Base. If these claims are true, which means if the CIA and Pentagon are behind these traitors, this means that we are facing a very serious problem and the U.S. will not be able to overcome this, he said…“This means that the U.S. and the global centers of power are planning to drag Turkey into civil war.

• “US Commander Campbell: The man behind the failed coup in Turkey,” Yeni Şafak, July 25, 2016.

A former U.S. commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), a NATO-led security mission in Afghanistan, was the organizer of the July 15 military coup attempt in Turkey, sources said.

General John F. Campbell was one of the top figures who organized and managed the soldiers behind the failed coup attempt in Turkey, sources close to ongoing legal process of pro-coup detainees said.

• Melih Altınok, “Was the US behind the July 15 coup attempt?” Daily Sabah, July 28, 2016.

We must ask the authorities and journalists in the U.S. a few questions:

How can you still defend Gülen even though all evidence has been revealed and everything happened before your own eyes?

How would you feel if Osama Bin Laden lived in a Turkish city and Turkish officials and media outlets defended him?

No one can stop Turks from thinking that the U.S. and the West was behind the July 15 coup attempt unless some satisfactory answers are given to these questions.