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Old 07-18-2016, 01:37 PM
RN7 RN7 is offline
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This "Colonel's Coup" was probably the worst planned in history. It really is hard to know what exactly went on in Turkey during all of this. There is talk of Erdogan having planned it to eliminate all opposition and pursue an Islamist agenda in Turkey. I don't know if that was the case but Erdogan is now starting to piss of America by demanding that Fethullah Gullen be extradited from the US. Judging by the current reaction of Western countries there certainly is some suspicion about Erdogan and his motives. Turkey is now been threatened with NATO suspension if Erdogan's purge of Turkey's military and political apparatus continues.

NATO suspension may not be such bad news. Although having Turkey in NATO during the Cold War was important given its proximity to the Soviet Union and the Middle East, it has very little in common with other NATO members being a Muslim country with a dreadful human rights record. It has also had a toxic relationship with Greece for a century, and new NATO members in the Balkans do not like the Turks. The Turkish military does also not quite live up to the hype being said about it. Its not very well trained and heavily reliant on US and German support, although the Turks have tried to diversify their arms sources. Turkey has also no chance of now becoming a member of the EU with Erdogan in power, and EU-Turkish relations will only get worse over the refugee crisis. With Britain leaving the EU and basically killing the EU federalist project and Cameron being one of Erdogan's major supporters the Turks know it.
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