This can't possibly end well Turkey army says it seizes power; Erdogan says: We will overcome this | Reuters If there's anything the world DOESN'T need it's one less democracy. If there's anything else the world DOESN'T need, it's political instability in a country bordering Syria.
Turkey has been on a downhill slide for years now. It is really sad. My wife and I visited Turkey about 6 years ago and it was one of the best vacations we have ever taken.
Apparently it's a fluid situation with the military not clearly in control everywhere in that country. I'm hearing that the coup was inspired/led by a Turkish Cleric living in exile in Pennsylvania. I know that sounds bizarre but that's the report I just heard.
Really? Turkish President Erdogan declares coup attempt over - CNN.com I was certain this was going to be a near impossible situation to rectify. Yes, it's too early to tell just how close the situation is to being resolved, but from what I read here and the videos shown, a combination of special forces, local police and the citizens themselves taking to the streets has thwarted the coup. We'll see soon enough what the damage was and if, for a certainty, the crisis is over, but this is quite an incredible story.
Those attempting this coup are the supporters of the same dude who runs a bunch of charter schools over here in the US. Imam Gulen, he's fond of the Poconos...as we all are.
I don't like Erdogan either, but I don't really see how his being in power there changes life noticeably for people in other countries.
and in a related story, Turkey's board of education demands the resignation of 1,500 deans Turkey's education board demands 1,577 university deans ...
It doesn't. But in keeping with our role of "World Police" we feel justified in intervening in world affairs that have no impact on us at all. Sometimes we even assassinate, or provides the means to assassinate, democratically elected leaders and support repressive dictators to take their place to ostensibly preserve our "interests" in that region. Also, we just pour tons of military aid into Israel and ignore every war crime they commit and make their enemies our enemies even if doing so serves no purpose for us other than to add even more debt to our balance sheet. Then we look surprised when extremists across the world hate us to the point of wanting us dead.
It didn’t feel to me like Erdogan did it. Watching some video of him and I think he looked silly on that phone calling the TV station. I don’t see how he could have masterminded it. Although an insider/instigator is just about but I kind of doubt that too. I don’t know if Gulenists were involved but it seems possible. It could equally well have been secular nationalists without ties to Gulen though. Given that the coup came immediately after Erdogan began to normalize relations with Russia, and even backtrack on regime change in Syria (he’s getting seriously worried about the Kurds) it seems to me that US CIA/State Dept may well have at least encouraged the coup attempt. Initial reactions here in the states last week were neutral, which in and of itself is suspect. Especially in todays hyper politicized-partisan times.
50,000 people purged in the wake of the failed coup https://www.yahoo.com/news/erdogan-chairs-security-council-50-000-hit-turkey-000800657.html
Perhaps this belongs in the conspiracy theory thread, but Erdoğan seems to have gotten so much mileage out of the coup attempt, and the coup attempt was so poor quality, that it doesn't seem unreasonable to suspect that it was a false flag operation.
Purge "almost over." Turkey still waiting to exhale. Turkey Open For Business With Purges Nearly Over, PM Says - Bloomberg
Nott mine either, but the US does have tactical nukes in Turkey so we're a little bit interested in the goings on over there. Sort of.
I find it hard to believe the U.S. military doesn't have a plan to remove or neutralize their nuclear weapons in the event a host country tries to take control of them.
I work for the DoD as a cilvilan in IT. I assure you, that your "finding it hard to believe" is indeed..easy to believe. Lol.
Then, by all means, let's invade them. History has shown that meddling in Middle Eastern countries stops the fanaticism early and then we form meaningful trade partners down the road. If we hadn't backed the Shah Iran wouldn't hate us right now and we wouldn't be worried about their nuclear capabilities. If we hadn't toppled Saddam there would be no ISIS. If we hadn't backed the Taliban against the Russians then Afghanistan likely wouldn't have developed into a hotbed of terrorism (or, alternatively, it would have but it would be the Russians' problem instead of the world's). If we didn't pump billions into Israel none of these countries would particularly care about our existence. At a certain point it may be prudent to say "Wow, every time we interfere in the politics of another country it goes horribly wrong maybe we should focus more on diplomacy and less on covert operations and war."
Wow, who would have guessed that Erdogan and Putin would buddy-up? Turkey's Erdogan meets with Putin after rift - CNN.com
