Military Coup in Turkey: Third Piece of Greater Kurdistan in Play

by Scott Creighton

Well, the third piece of the Greater Kurdistan puzzle is in play. The Turkish military, historically close to US intelligence agencies and NATO, has reportedly staged a coup in the country in an effort to unseat the elected government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim of the AKP, or Freedom and Justice Party.

“Some people illegally undertook an illegal action outside of the chain of command,” Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said in comments broadcast on NTV, a private television channel. “The government elected by the people remains in charge. This government will only go when the people say so.” NYT

A group of military figures announced tonight that they have taken control of the entire government. There are tanks positioned outside the airports and they have shut down two main bridges in and out of Istanbul.

A statement from the military group read out on NTV television said: “The power in the country has been seized in its entirety.” Who represents the group remains uncertain. BBC

Reminiscent of Chile 1973, there are reports of fighter jets roaring over the capital. Of course, we all know who was behind that coup.

The Prime Minister is trying to keep the country calm telling them their government is still in charge and that the coup is NOT supported by the entire military structure.

“There was an illegal act by a group within the military that was acting out of the chain of military command. Our people should know that we will not allow any activity that would harm democracy.” Prime Minister Binali Yildirim

Erdogan was not particularly liked by some in the military. They attempted a coup years ago which was outed and squashed and as a result, many leaders of the coup attempt were arrested. It was only recently that a number of them were released from prison by some Gulenist activist judges who also wish to see Erdogan and the left leaning AKP out of power.

It should also be noted that Erdogan refused to sign up for another IMF loan after Turkey successfully paid off the last one. That didn’t sit well with the masters of the universe.

Erdogan and a segment of the military have been waging a war against the Kurds Iraq, Syria and Turkey. They understand that the ultimate goal of the Kurds is the creation of Greater Kurdistan and they refuse to allow them to break off a piece of their country for the US’s latest nation-building exercise.

The military in Turkey says they are taking power in a forced coup in order to preserve democracy. This is what they always say.

“Turkish armed forces, in order to re-establish constitutional order, democracy, rights and freedoms, rule of law, safety and security of the Turkish nation and the state, has taken over all governmental responsibilities of the Republic of Turkey.” The Atlantic

It should be noted, we have nukes staged in Turkey at Incirlik airbase.

This coup attempt is not a shock to anyone who’s been paying attention. The neocon website AEI was writing about it back in March.

I have written that it was probably a forgone conclusion that one would be attempted if Erdogan did not submit and continued to attack Kurdish positions in Syria and Iraq.

As Penny has recently pointed out, the fourth part of Greater Kurdistan, “Iranian Kurdistan” has been seeing some developments recently.

Looks to me like the Gulenists have had enough of the typical destabilization game. The PKK YPG terrorism campaign has not succeeded in undermining Erdogan’s control of the country as they had hoped and perhaps they feel the need to step up their timeline on this project.

As I find more information on this subject, I will post it. I suggest you check with Penny for your Thoughts blog. She will undoubtedly be all over this in the next few hours.

This is a very fluid story. There are all kinds of reports out there. I will keep you up to date.