Turkey

Domestic Intervention By the Turkish Armed Forces Into Political Affairs

As a follow-on to my recent blog a question which arose was ''when will the Turkish Armed forces intervene (if at all) into domestic affairs?''

My answer to this is that the Turkish Armed Forces will only intervene after humiliating military defeats in Syria (and possibly Iraq) all of which can be attributed to the incompetent decisions of President Erdogan.

(He will, of course, attempt to place the blame at the door of his own armed forces commanders and dismiss those considered 'unreliable' and 'disloyal'.)

It never ceases to fascinate me how all our politicians lack the courage to call Erdogan out for what he is: a dictator, a tyrant and a demagogue who is leading Turkey over the precipice and into chaos, tyranny anarchy and civil war.

CNN Turk, like its parent in Atlanta, is, as I have said previously, a national (now an international) disgrace as it conveniently ignores democracy and media freedom in that country in the hope of saving its own commercial neck from the wrath of Erdogan. [Much better, in my view, that CNN declare itself for what it really is:an infomercial station for global corporate conglomerates interspersed with news of relevance and favorable to the same bodies it serves. In this regard it would,at least, in my opinion, avoid the criticism that it ignores relevant political issues as such would not be expected of a business infomercial global network.]

But back to this question of military intervention into domestic affairs.

Despite Erdogan's purges, the Turkish armed forces remain relatively unpoliticized and free of Wahhabist-Salafist control, at the present time.

The armed forces will only move if and when they see that popular sentiment has universally turned against Erdogan because of military reverses – hence the recent crackdowns on the opposition media – to prevent such information reaching the general populace.

Will Europe be Compliant As Turkey Descends Into Tyranny?

My own opinion is that Europe does not really care – for so long as whoever is in power halts the haemorrhaging of economic and political migrants and refugees from war-torn and devastated areas into Europe.

I have already expressed my own view that 'throwing Euros' at Erdogan is the equivalent of the Roman Empire, in the era of its decline, 'throwing' Denarius at the mercenaries (or 'contractors') tasked with 'guarding' the Empire's frontiers. As soon as the money 'ran out', the mercenaries - Vandals and other barbarians - commenced their looting and pillage of the Empire's territories they had (hitherto) been tasked with 'protecting'.

It's a fools path the European Union has now embarked upon.

Back to Turkey.

I have no doubt that Erdogan, being of the same ilke as every tyrant before him, will attempt to block access to all information to the general populace, other than that which he wants them to see and hear.

Pulling the plug on social media networks and effectively 'closing down' the internet (especially in areas and regions where such are most active) will go some way to staving off the inevitable.

As The Fuhrer and his High Command were all too aware during World War II, you cannot conceal massive military defeats forever from the general public.

What About the Saudi Armed Forces?

Saudi Arabia has money (lots of it!) but its armed forces, as standalone,

unlike the IDF, Hezbollah, and the Syrian Armed Forces, has no backbone.

Its 'backbone' is provided by Britain and the United States, as underwriters and guarantors of Saudi sovereignty - but both countries will 'limit' their client's 'military interventions' (or, in my opinion, military adventures) where such could result in a wider conflagration - or even a war between the superpowers – which nobody (with any sanity) wants to see happen.

The Turkish Armed Forces however are a very different kettle of fish.

They are competent, organized, highly disciplined, resolute, determined and have got 'what it takes'.

As soon as the Turkish position changes, the Saudis (and their Gulf State 'allies') will quickly disappear from the scene.

I hope this clarifies the earlier blog when I say that the Turkish Armed Forces will only intervene in domestic politics where its own reputation has been greviously undermined by political decisions which place the future territorial integrity and economic stability of the Turkish state in jeopardy, should such be allowed to continue.

© Patrick Emek, March 2016