Analysis: Pulling Erdogan from Western Orbit is a Russian Objective
Whether or not Putin had a hand in the Coup, it may have played into his hands. According to the following article, Putin's desires have been well known.Never the less, a rift between Turkey and its NATO allies has been widening due to the increasing influence of Islamism. The supremacy of Islamic law over secular law paves the way for serious geo-political disruption no matter what the primary driver(s) of this alleged coup may be. The road to an ultimate outcome will be paved with chaos--with both political and social unrest.
The article below contains a plethora of information regarding background, machinations, facts, theories, and possible repercussions regarding current events.
Putin’s Sinister Role in the Failed Turkish Coup BY: Molly McKew
One group that stands to gain significantly from Erdogan’s “purges” are the local proponents of Eurasianist thinking. In the days leading up to the attempted coup, Alexandr Dugin—the Russian ideologue who is the father of the modern “Eurasian Movement” and a favorite Kremlin harbinger of conflict and annexation—was sitting in Ankara, alternatively visiting with leading Turkish Eurasianists and close allies of President Erdogan.
Dugin, as Georgia and Ukraine have learned, is rarely near a conflict by chance, often providing both the ideological foundations for modern Russian expansionism and a kind of advance team for local mobilization.
As early as 2004, U.S. officials warned that Putin aimed to detach Turkey from the West. Could the rapid realignment underway after the coup indicate that Russia’s hybrid war to capture Turkey into its geopolitical orbit is yielding results?
A TV coup?
In the aftermath of the failed coup in Turkey, more than 6,000 members of the military have been arrested; more than 50,000 education personnel, police, judges, and civil servants have been fired; and millions of academics have been banned from leaving the country until potential connections to the coup plot are evaluated. The speed with which the “enemies lists” were produced, and with which the arrests were conducted, has led to questions from European officials about the government’s preparations in advance of the coup.
But the “conspiracy theories” spinning out of recent events both mask and expose a deep geopolitical shift underway in Turkey that could have profound consequences for NATO and American allies in the region.
Stories are now circulating that Russian officials warned their Turkish counterparts of the pending coup, and that Iranian officials were in contact with their Turkish counterparts throughout the night. Both stories add to the sense that some elements inside Turkey aimed to capitalize upon the coup to widen the distance between Turkey and its Western allies and commitments.
The rapid purge of opponents has amplified questions about the baffling coup attempt. Turkey’s military has staged four successful coups—and this iteration deviated from that playbook in ways that defy easy explanation.
Istanbul’s bridges over the Bosporus were blockaded. Black ops forces appeared at the hotel in Marmaris where President Erdogan was supposedly staying, dropping down the side of the building on rope-lines. Fighter jets broke the sound barrier over Istanbul and Ankara, and tanks drove through the streets, projecting the appearance of broad military involvement. Cadets from military academies were enlisted as manpower. An international TV station was seized but continued to broadcast the dramatic conflict. Communications were broadly uninterrupted throughout the country. Several broadcast text messages were even sent from Erdogan and his allies to Turkish cellphone users, calling them to the streets to defend their nation.
These actions required pre-planning but made little tactical sense—a series of powerful visuals projecting that a coup was underway, and providing rally points for media and demonstrators, but which held little value in securing strategic assets, institutions, and national political leaders.
Under scrutiny, it’s not hard to see why some observers believe the coup was staged. In a poll conducted after the coup, one third of Turks said they believed Erdogan was behind the coup.
The rise, fall, and return of Turkey’s Eurasianists





















