Turkey
Accuses US Of Being Behind Military Coup - Demands
Extradition Of Cleric Gulen
By Tyler Durden
July 17,
2016 "Information
Clearing House"
- "Zero
Hedge"
-
When
earlier today we reported that Turkey has closed
the airspace above, and suspended all US-led air
missions out of the giant Incirlik airbase (which
houses some 50 US nuclear bombs), we said that there
is speculation the "airbase may be held "hostage" by
Ankara as a bargaining chip ahead of demands for the
extradition of Erdogan's arch enemy, Fethullah Gulen,
currently a resident of the state of Pennsylvania."
A few hours later this was partially validated when
during a televised speech, Turkish President Erdogan
called on the United States to extradite Fethullah
Gulen, a US-based Muslim cleric he accuses of being
behind Turkey's failed coup attempt.
At roughtly
the same time, Turkey's Minister of Labor went one
step further, and accused America of being behind
the coup on live Television, as it was harboring
Gulen.
To be sure,
as we wrote first thing this morning, Gulen, who
is currently residing in Saylorsburg, Peynnsylvania,
said he condemned the coup “in the strongest terms.”
Gulen, as
those who have followed recent Turkish history know,
is Erdogan's quasi-imaginary bogeyman nemesis;
Erdogan has repeatedly accused Gulen of plotting a
"parallel state" whose intention is to overthrow
Erdogan, and has used that strawman narrative as
justification to expand his powers and to push for a
shift from a parliamentary to a presidential regime.
Gulen
wrote in his blog that "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."
None of
this mattered to Erdogan who said as Turkey's
strategic partner, Washington should meet the demand
for the extradition of Pennsylvania-based Fethullah
Gulen. He also added that Turkey had never turned
back any extradition request for "terrorists" by the
United States, implying it is the US imperative to
extradite the man Erdogan accuses of starting last
night's failed coup.
As
Reuters adds, Turkey's foreign minister, Mevlut
Cavusoglu, said on Saturday he had made clear in a
call with U.S. counterpart John Kerry that followers
of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen were behind a
coup attempt, and yet strangely enough, "had
not directly discussed the cleric's possible
extradition."
The
revisionist narrative spun by the Turkish
government, goes as follows: a faction of the armed
forces, deemed by the government as loyal to Gulen,
tried to seize power using tanks and attack
helicopters overnight. As we learned previously, one
hundred and sixty-one people were killed, including
many civilians, in the ensuing violence. Allegedly
up to 3,000 soldiers have been arrested, a paltry
figure in comparison to the total size of the
Turkish army, recently estimated at 315,000
personnel.
Cavusoglu
said the military now needed to be "cleansed" of
Gulenist influence. "Once this cleansing is finished
our military will be stronger, our soldiers will be
stronger, providing better support and coordination
to NATO," he said.
In an
indirect hint that the Incirlik airbase may indeed
be held hostage, the minister said soldiers at the
base in southern Turkey, used by the U.S. military
to conduct air strikes against the Islamic State,
had been involved in the coup attempt and that
arrests had been made.
"Once these operations are completed,
we will continue our fight against Daesh (Islamic
State) with either coalition nations, or within the
NATO framework, and resume our cooperation with
NATO," Cavusoglu
said.
But not
sooner, and perhaps the delay may last as long as it
takes for the US to respond to the extradition
request.
Or maybe
not.
As
AP adds, a Turkish official, speaking on
condition of anonymity in line with government
regulations, said Turkey "has been preparing
a formal application with detailed information about
Gulen's involvement in illegal activities.
After last night we have one more thing to add to an
already extensive list." And, more to the point,
no formal extradition request has been made
yet.
Which means
that Erdogan may be merely doing more of what he is
so good at: populist pandering while using foreign
scapegoats to further cement his authoritarian
status.
Furthermore, the truth is that Erdogan has little to
gain from the extradition of Gulen, who has
absolutely zero responsibility for what is
increasingly likely a self-orchestrated coup. As we
said earlier today, it benefits Erdogan far more to
keep Gulen in the US - where he can use him as a
perpetual scapegoat to "justify" his relentless
power-grab - than to bring him home where his trial
(and execution) would eliminate one of the biggest
pretexts Erdogan has to be openly paranoid in
public, and demanding ever more power.
John Kerry responded
that the Obama administration it
would entertain Gulen's extradition request,
but he said Turkey's government would have to prove
Fethullah Gulen's wrongdoing. Visiting
Luxembourg, Kerry said Turkey hasn't yet requested
that the United States send home Gulen, who left
Turkey in 1999.
"We haven't
received any request with respect to Mr. Gulen,"
Kerry told reporters. "We fully anticipate that
there will be questions raised about Mr. Gulen. And
obviously we would invite the government of Turkey,
as we always do, to present us with any legitimate
evidence that withstands scrutiny. And the United
States will accept that and look at it and make
judgments about it appropriately."
"I'm
confident there will be some discussion about that,"
Kerry added.
We are
confident that once the initial bluster passes,
there will be no formal extradition request, and
even if there is, Gulen will stay in his home in
rural Pennsylvania: after all Erdogan has absolutely
nothing to gain from such a move.
Meanwhile,
in other news, Turkey’s Third Army Corps, Akin
Ozturk, who was appointed as
head of the Turkish air force in 2013, has been
detained and will face treason charges, Reuters
reports, citing a Turkish official. Local media have
named Ozturk as the likely leader of Friday night’s
coup attempt in Ankara. Also detained by the
Turkish police was Alparslan Altan, a member of the
Constitutional Court and most senior judicial
official among the scores detained so far in the
wake of the attempted military coup, CNN Turk
reported.
Copyright
©2009-2016 ZeroHedge.com
See
also
Turkey detains 'coup
plotters' at base used by US: Reports:
Turkish authorities have reportedly detained a
senior air force general and other officers accused
of backing the failed coup aimed at ousting
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a key air base
used by US forces for raids in Syria.
U.S. Troops at Turkish Air
Base on Highest Force Protection Level:
U.S. troops at Turkey’s Incirlik air base were at
the highest force protection level, known as
"condition Delta," after power was cut off at the
base and the Turkish government closed the airspace
around the site in the hours following a foiled
military coup attempt, a U.S. official told ABC News
today.
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