News About Turkey

Former CIA Officer Slams Turkish Claims of U.S. Role in 2016 Coup Attempt as ‘Amateurish and Baseless’

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will visit the United States (US) on May 9, 2024. However, the relationship between the two countries has deteriorated significantly in recent years. Despite Turkiye’s status as a NATO and Western ally, its shifting political landscape has brought it closer to Russia, which conflicts with US interests in the region. Turkiye’s increasing human rights violations, media repression, and imprisonment of journalists have driven a wedge between it and the Western world. The United States has been vocal about its concerns, which has further strained relations. President Erdogan has taken provocative actions, such as purchasing S-400 missiles from Russia, to send a message to the US.   The government-controlled media of the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi-AKP) frequently blames the US for internal and regional issues. One significant event that has soured relations between the two countries is the AKP’s allegations of US involvement in the July 15, 2016, coup attempt. The AKP government has propagated its own theory and silenced dissenting voices by imprisoning them despite lacking solid evidence to support its claims. This article utilizes an interview to present the perspective of a former CIA Operations Officer who was in Turkey during the coup attempt. Its aim is to shed light on the events of that night. The officer’s answers are provided below without any commentary.  “Initial assessment that it may have been a terrorist attack or a response to a terrorist attack, which may have included members of the Turkish military. During that time, there were multiple terrorist attacks throughout the country, carried out by ISIS and others by PKK. However, that assessment was discarded quickly due to signs of what was described as a possible internal conflict within the Turkish military. Finally, within a couple of hours, Turkish government officials began to claim to the world that it was a coup attempt.”  “It is very difficult to be certain that the Turkish government knew about the coup. The onus is on the person/entity making such claims to provide the evidence. Therefore, it is customary to use political figures’ statements on this topic as simply politically motivated unless they provide solid evidence.”   “The contradictory statements by government officials, especially about major events like coups, are usually meant to mislead and dilute the threads of investigations into the incident. Erdogan simply conformed to this approach, which may have provided him with latitude and flexibility to explain his government’s actions following the alleged coup against a wide spectrum of the Turkish population alleging their involvement in the coup. In the scenario where he was pretending to have uncovered the coup, then the act of fluctuating statements appears more fitting for the event.”  “I do not have any facts/specifics on this question. However, the assessment that some military units may have been misled and others were ordered to react is a plausible one. The chaotic nature of the coup, uncertainty, lack of information, and intentional media blackouts fed the narrative that the military had split on itself.”  “According to US embassy staff who lived in buildings across from the official TRT building in Ankara, a helicopter appeared to shoot at the building; however, it appeared to be shooting blank rounds.”  “The Turkish military is well-trained, well-experienced in coups, and has advanced weapons. It would not have closed just one way of the Bosphorus Bridge and done a coup.”   “The Turkish government officials appeared inconsistent and chaotic and seemed like actors playing amateurishly; it was embarrassing.”  “Erdogan likes to portray himself as a “devout, pious worshiper,” and therefore, a statement such as “this is a gift from God” would be fitting for the image he likes to portray of himself. Further, such an image and statement echo nicely among his less educated and more religious following in the remote areas of Turkiye. In addition, any savvy politician will want to make maximum benefits of a coup if he survives it, including expunging of the undesired staff, shuffling in government structure, shifting budgets, etc., and Erdogan is a very savvy politician. Besides, in reality, he needed a major scary event like this to renew his followers’ loyalty pledges in light of economic turmoil and constant terrorist attacks that killed Turkish civilians.”   “No. The theory, the narrative, and the following actions appeared to be that of an amateur who underestimated the level of his own people’s intelligence and the international community’s ability to read through his gimmicks.   “The simple question that we can pose to Erdogan and his government: (a) If you DID NOT KNOW about the coup, how were you able to provide, within 12 hours of the alleged coup, a list of over 10,000 employees across many governmental institutions and at various levels of responsibilities who were Gulenists and have infested the ranks of your government?, (b) If you KNEW about the coup and had a long list of alleged suspects, why did you not arrest them much earlier than the day of the coup to avoid the fatalities? It doesn’t matter what their answer is, as either way, they’re at fault for not acting in time, or they must explain how they could produce a long list of suspects.”   “It is well known that Erdogan and Gulen used to be very close allies. However, Gulen noticed Erdogan’s increasing usage of Islamic religion as a political tool within Turkiye, and the immediate surrounding neighborhood, leaving Turkiye with practically no friends in the region. Erdogan’s behavior also triggered sensitivities with Egypt and Saudi Arabia, who are usually looked at as the leaders of the Sunni Muslim world, especially that he started to present himself as an alternative to many Arab/Muslim leaders. Finally, Erdogan became more of a dictator/Sultan. For all these reasons, Gulen distanced himself from Erdogan and began to make public statements opposing Erdogan. That led to a rapid change in the nature of their relationship, from allies to enemies.  Therefore, using Gulen as the enemy who plotted the alleged coup serves multiple purposes for…