"Summarizing the latest purge we get the following numbers:
15,200 educators
8,000 police officers
3,500 soldiers
3,000 judges
492 clerics
257 in PM’s office
120 generals and admirals"
However, as a response, WikiLeaks has released a first batch (“A” - “I”) 300K of emails hacked from the AKP servers earlier this year. They have been under heavy DDoS attack for the last day or so as well. This will be obviously not reported within the country no matter what is found.
Not sure which thread this might belong in, because in several places we have discussed the US use of drones to kill “imminent threat” targets. Where “imminent” now means anyone in a terrorist organization at any time because they are probably up to something.
Well, just now, a prominent AKP supporting journalist tweeted that Turkey has the right to kill Gulen in his house in Pennsylvania with drone strikes.
I guess that would solve the extradition dilemma… but so far nobody has had the chutzpah to apply our own global rules for drone killings against us. I suppose if Turkey wants out of NATO, that is one way to do it.
This is how you can turn a country in a theocracy. First you have to fire a lot of policemen, judges, teachers, etc… so you can replace them by monks or regime adepts.
The process also destroy the future of the country, but if you are really into religion, that you think religion is the answer to everything, I imagine is fucking cool.
Kerry has already said that Turkey’s position in NATO might be at risk. If they launched any kind of strike on US soil, I imagine action would be swift.
Turkey leaving NATO would be a seismic shift. Action like that would probably eliminate any prospects of them joining the EU, as well. Merkel has pointed out that adopting the death penalty would not help their cause.
Do the Turks want to be Iran? I’m not sure how well that has worked out for Iranians.
Putin would love it if Turkey left NATO; he’d love it even more if he could somehow get traditional enemy Turkey within a Russian-led authoritarian-friendly bloc.
My spies say that the Russian game have more to it. Some of the friends of Russia are scared of a nationalistic Ottoman empire, so they go to Russia for protection against the evil scary Turk. Is usefull for Russia that the Turks are the bad guys, while a unreliable ally will be (maybe) less useful.
Or at least thats what my spies say. I have zero idea of politics.
Democracy in action. From a CNN story:
Suspects in Turkey can now be detained for as long as 30 days without
charge and the government can listen in on all conversations they have
with their lawyers under a new presidential decree, according to the
Resmi Gazette, an official government publication.
How did that tool get elected in the first place?
The usual populist rabble-rousing, in this case with special appeal to religious Turks. Mix in FUD propaganda combined with provocations against the Kurds to incite further violence from their terrorist groups and hence the justification for greater executive authority and additional crackdowns.
The Beeb: “Turkey coup attempt: ‘Arrest warrants issued’ for journalists” http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36881943
More interestingly, Bellingcat, in one way or another, apparently got access to Whatsapp group chat the people behind the coup used to coordinate their actions and created a timeline.
How long before Turkey leaves NATO? They have been bitter enemies with Russia for centuries, but I’d wager that’s going to come to an end too.
“Unfortunately, the West is supporting terror and standing by the coup plotters,” said Erdogan in a typically combative speech at his presidential palace, denouncing “those who we imagined to be friends”.
Erdogan lashed out at Germany’s judicial authorities for not allowing him to address via video conference a weekend rally in Cologne in his support.
“Bravo! The courts in Germany work very fast!” Erdogan said with heavy irony
Interesting now that Turkey are going into Syria, the US are starting to turn against their allies the YPG/YPJ that the Turks have wanted destroyed (and tried to while they supported Daesh).
I guess that is the “thank you” from the West the Kurds should have expected, after being the vanguard against IS for 2-so years, the west now abandons them for the soon-to-be 100% dictator Erdogan.
Is there some article that talks about support being dropped for the Kurds?
“So far, the purge has affected mainly academics on the outs with Mr. Erdogan even before the coup attempt, chiefly those connected to Mr. Gulen and to causes seen as critical of the government. But the chill is broadening, and many academics from top schools, expecting a second wave of purges, are seeking work abroad.”
http://www.wsj.com/articles/after-failed-coup-turkeys-erdogan-is-purging-universities-of-potential-enemies-1472053608
https://www.yahoo.com/news/turkey-shells-kurdish-militia-northern-syria-turkish-state-192354241.html
And probably more to come.
Vice President Biden was just in Istanbul where he echoed Erdogan’s demand that the Kurds withdraw across the Euphrates.
Allowing the YPG to control the entire Turkish / Syrian border, including Sunni-majority areas is probably deeply troubling to the Turkish government, which remains an important (if deeply flawed) /NATO ally. Trying to keep the Syrian Kurds and the Turkish Army separated is the least bad option for U.S. foreign policy. That also seems to be the view of the NYT’s editorial board.
I can totally see how Biden’s words might sound like a betrayal of the Kurds, But I think it’s actually a more nuanced stance to make while visiting Turkey:: “The YPG, wihich my friend President Erdogan considers to be worse than ISIS, must withdraw across a river to a more acceptable border of Syrian Kurdistan or else we may cut off our flow of advanced anti-tank guided missiles to the YPG, which, again, my host considers to be a terrorist group.”
Since this is Qt3, we’re probably into Cold War militaria, right?: Check out the Turkish M60 tanks that occupied Jarabuls (one is visible in the Ed Board piece). A U.S.-made TOW can easily penetrate a M60 frontally. We’ve given a bunch of TOWs to the Kurds, and ISIS looted a bunch of TOWs from Mosul. Considering that new officers have just been promoted to leadership positions in the Turkish army based on ideology and not competence, it’s probably not good to have the YPG, ISIS, and Turkey all fighting in the same area, unless the goal is direct conflict between Syrian Kurds and Turkey. (And that is a terrible goal.)
I’m actually surprised that Turkey hasn’t purchased any of the export models of the M1, but I guess they have purchased a number of Leopard 2 tanks from Germany.
354 Leopard 2A4s
Which is a potent force.
It looks like they are in the process of building their own design as well. The Altay:
