Russia and Israel seem involved -- and yes, Erdogan is Suspect #1

Submitted by Michael S (United States), Jul 30, 2016 at 18:33

The sound quality was terrible; but I think I got the gist of what was said. I agree with those who suspect Erdogan himself was behind the coup. His supporters appeared en masse with identical, large Turkish flags that could not credibly have shown up in such numbers so quickly.

I believe Gulen, when he says he had no part in the coup. As I say, it is most likely that Erdogan himself staged the thing, as a false flag operation. He has too much of a track record at this sort of thing, to believe otherwise. He may have had a patsy disgruntled officer duped and egged on by a double agent, an officer powerful and influential enough to convince others to join him. However he did it, he seemed well informed of the plot's progress and timetable; and he certainly has benefited from the coup more than anyone on earth. At last count, well over 40% of the generals had been purged from the military, well over 100 news outlets had been closed down... it made Hitler's "night of long knives" look like amateurish exercise:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_of_the_Long_Knives

International reaction: Putin can't wipe the metaphorical smile off his face. The Russian government website Sputnik says:

Russian Deal With Turkey Could Spell Game Over for US and Rebels in Syria
© Sputnik/ Iliya Pitalev
Middle East
17:02 28.07.2016(updated 17:05 28.07.2016)

http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20160728/1043718728/russia-turkey-syria-war.html

Israel's Netanyahu also appears exuberant:

Israel, Turkey strike deal to normalize ties
By Oren Liebermann and Elise Labott, CNN
Updated 3:15 PM ET, Mon June 27, 2016

http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/26/middleeast/israel-turkey-relations/

One would almost think that Russian and Israeli Intelligence cooperated to help Erdogan stage and quash the coup.

Jerusalem Post seems to broadly agree with my assessment, adding an interesting twist that the coup may have been plotted as cover for Erdogan restoring (very unpopular) ties with Russia and Israel:

By ARIEL BEN SOLOMON \
07/24/2016 21:26
'Possible that Erdogan engineered coup,' former Pentagon official tells 'Post'

-- http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Possible-that-Erdogan-engineered-coup-former-Pentagon-official-tells-Post-462243

The commentors posting to that article also seem to agree.

Germany seems to be "going on with the show" of providing the world with entertainment at its own expense:

http://www.dw.com/en/opinion-strip-erdogan-of-his-power-over-germanys-turks/a-19437869

Europe is falling apart. All that remains, it seems, is to see whom they select as the scapegoat: Is it Greece? Brexit? Frexit? Italy leaving the Euro Zone? the migrants? the terrorist attacks? Russian aggression? Just add "the Turks" to the list... but then, Europe has always had a ready-made scapegoat in times of distress: The Jews. All in all, this does not bode well for Israel and its supporters.

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