Date posted: January 25, 2017

Kjetil Stormark

Senior NATO sources tell aldrimer.no that they believe Erdoğan staged the coup himself. However, they stress that there is no written NATO documentation for that claim, because it is simply too sensitive. That’s because all member nation’s have the right to access to all intelligence information gathered by the alliance.

1,600 names

But the dominant NATO assessment is quite clear.

«The senior officers, three- and four-star generals, and those who worked with Turkey for 30-40 years and who mentored Turkish officers for four or five years, say they do not believe that there was a coup. If the Turkish Armed Forces wanted to carry out a coup, they would have succeeded. That’s a tradition in Turkey,» said a NATO source, without a hint of irony.

«They had a list of 1,600 names the very next day of people they wanted gone,» he added.

Related video, Published on Aug 13, 2016 (Added by HizmetNews.Com

Tanks and warplanes

On Friday, 15 July 2016 Turkish tanks rolled into the streets in Ankara and Istanbul. Two bridges over the Bosporus Strait were closed. Fighter planes  also took off in Ankara, where Parliament and the presidential palace were attacked.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was on holiday in Marmaris, in southern Turkey, but travelled that nigtht to Istanbul by private jet.

The very next morning, reports from Turkey said the coup had been foiled. A systematic and comprehensive purge of military officers, judges and others in the Turkish power apparatus started immediately.

A year of preparation

Some 80-90 per cent of Turkish officers who served in NATO were relieved of their posts, aldrimer.no has learned from reliable sources. Many of those who dared to return home were jailed and a significant number were killed, according to NATO sources.

«Turkish officers who still have contact with NATO said that Erdogan had been planning the so-called coup for a year and had a list of people he wanted out.” said a NATO source. «I have so far not met anyone who believes there was a real coup attempt,» said the source.

Described as narcissist

A think tank that NATO regularly uses has issued a classified assessment of Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as a  narcissist.

The commercial intelligence report is available to NATO officers and NATO member states through NATO Intelligence Fusion Center (NIFCA).

Broken up

One of the first things Erdogan did after the alleged coup was to split the military and the paramilitary gendarmerie. Those two units were previously organized under the same umbrella and wore the same uniform, although they were different organizations with different objectives.

The gendarmerie, in particular, was loyal to Erdogan and actively participated in the purges after the events in Turkey in mid-July. However,  many Turkish Armed Forces officers also enjoyed promotions after displaying loyalty to the president.

NATO noted that a Turkish officer at NATO’s military headquarters SHAPE in Mons, Belgium, was abruptly promoted from major to colonel.

Declined to comment

Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg declined to comment to aldrimer.no. The NATO press office responded with a written statement it asked to be atributed to a «NATO official». In the statement the press office stated that «the NATO Secretary General has commented publicly on the failed coup and its aftermath, and has discussed these issues with the Turkish political leadership». And went on to add:

«He has made clear that those responsible for the failed coup must be brought to justice, and it is important that this be done with full respect for the rule of law.»

The NATO press office, however, did not respond to aldrimer.nos specific questions about NATO assessments of who was really behind the attempted coup in Turkey in July 2016.

Aldrimer.no has contacted the office of the president of Turkey and offered the president a chance to comment. The office has not responded.

Source: AldriMer.no , January 25, 2017

Tags: Military coups in Turkey | Turkey |