Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan angrily condemned comments from US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, saying it wasn’t up to Clapper to assess the post-coup purge and that he should “know your place.”
Erdogan went on to accuse the US of involvement in the coup, insisting “my people know who is behind this scheme,” and adding that with his criticism Clapper and others “are giving yourselves away.” He added that accused coup plotter Fethullah Gulen was “already in your country, you are already feeding him,” and demanded immediate extradition.
Clapper’s comments at the Aspen Security Forum centered on the purge of a number of high ranking Turkish military officers with close ties to the US during the purge, saying that the move was not only harming the ability of the US to coordinate with Turkey’s military, but also hurting the ISIS war.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu also insisted that Clapper’s comments were “ridiculous,” and insisted that Turkey’s military could be even more efficient after the purge. Clapper has yet to respond to Erdogan’s condemnation, though Gen. Votel, who was with Clapper at the forum, denied Erdogan’s claims he was involved in the coup.
Gee, it looks like the witch was so occupied with getting herself elected, that she didn’ notice the colossal mess that “0” made in Turkey.
. Will we soon see America/NATO leavivg Turkey, 2B replaced with Turkey enjoying the excellent very long and well maintained runways??
Damn. Not that I’m a fan of Jimmy Perjury Clapper but the only one who needs to learn to understand his place in the world is Erdogan.
I disagree https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXiBvdvyr2E
I hate everything Erdogan stands for, but you can’t deny he’s got an independent streak and a backbone. Maybe those come with being a Turk.
Erdogan has a point but it’s the same made by all who were involved in power struggles and position maintenance over the ages. The only way to be “sure” that you won’t get the proverbial “stab in the back”, one needs to continuously purge all opponent networks and disrupt their (media) strategies. From the Catholic church (burning “heretics”) until 20th century bogyman Hitler himself . And it’s not like it’s just paranoia: in the bigger ponds a lot of big fish *are* out there, ready to take you on or take over. Erdogan’s problem is that he refuses to live with that uncertainty and tries to preempt all the unavoidable challenge with brute force and clever manipulation. But all that’s going to do is making ones position even more precarious and uncertain over time. Invoking even crazier schemes. But besides that there’s no reason to doubt Erdogan’s basic assessment here.
Hitler’s enemies were mostly created in propaganda to consolidate his power. Erdogan’s enemies are real. Gulen does indeed live in a mansion 250 miles from Fairfax, VA. He has spent decades and billions of dollars establishing schools, mosques, supporting politicians, funding militias, backing loyalists financially to enter the police, military, and court systems. Gulen has not only done this in Turkey but in all of central Asia. Erdogan should know. He was once one of Gulen’s guys.
Will Erdogan declare war on the US? Stay tuned!
Will the other NATO countries come to Turkey’s defense?
Clapper: “But…but…We’re the EMPIRE!!!”
Recep “Edgy” Erdogan is ready to kick some USAss, and kick it hard.
I am no fan of Erdogan but he isn’t my leader so I don’t care about what he does internally in Turkey but I also don’t like our govt meddling in the internal affairs of other nations, especially overthrowing govts like Ukraine, Honduras, Iraq, Libya, etc. And it looks like our CIA was involved with this coup (shocking) NOT, so Erdogan should immediately throw out NATO and kick the U.S. military out of the country. Clapper is a lying sack of sh*t and a traitor to our bill of rights.
I still believe there is a solid chance that Erdogan and the CIA pulled this off together. CUI BONO ?
Really really difficult to make an informed judgement call as to what really is likely the truth. It’s hard to detrermine the villians here because they are obviously all villians. There is no honor among thieves, just alliances and fractured alliances, double dealing, back stabbing, alterior motives and deception ….and quite likely false flags.
Turkey is clearly behind ISIS doing the bidding of the US, NATO, Saudi Arabia and Israel…against Assad and Iran. That much is obvious. If indeed Assad has been mending fences with Putin and moving in the direction of Putin’s orbit well then that clearly would explain the coop attempt and who is really rehind it.
But with Edogan (who clearly fits the definition of an evil dictator if there ever was one), at the helm, that would seem to constitute a fracture within NATO, which ain’t a bad thing IMO. …..except for all the NATO nukes stored there in that air force base. Brilliant move there you dumb stupid NATO morons?!
Erdogan had second thoughts about getting blamed for ISIS when he was just following CIA orders, and with his economy suffering from sanctions against Russia, he decided to make up with the Bear. So then an attempted coup and significant stress in his relationship with US/NATO?
Somewhat comforting to know there’s no honor among thieves.
Sultan Erdogan is a despot.