By Richard Cotrell: Is Turkey next for the CIA’s spring cleaning? It certainly looks
that way, from all the clues surrounding the huge riots that have
developed seemingly overnight in Istanbul and other large cities.
Ostensibly the trouble began over the plans by the Istanbul municipality to redevelop part of Gezi Park close to Taksim (Constitution) Square, situated in the heart of the country’s largest city. Suddenly – and suspiciously – numbers or protestors swelled dramatically and the police, never renowned for their lightness of touch, moved in with full-scale anti-riot tactics.
In the subsequent violence the situation turned from an ecological ‘occupy’ sort of protest to a rolling stone with all the indications of the popular demonstrations which appeared in not dissimilar circumstances in Egypt, Tunisia and Tripoli.
Each demonstration of the popular pro-democracy will ended with the removal of the existing authorities. Libya’s leader, Colonel Gadaffi, was murdered. Turkey’s Erdoğan has already called the protesters “marauders.”
Turkey has long been a source of discontent in western circles, notably the CIA and the US state department. This is entirely because the country is in the hands of soft Islamic power which won three victories in a row by landslide majorities.
The election of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) emerged as a source of hope after years of instability, chaos and economic backwardness. The new AK leaders switched on a humming dynamo of economic reforms which transformed the slothful economy into a huge source of growth.
Only last week, the government repaid the last installment on an outstanding loan contracted from the IMF by the former secular governments, whose only legacy was massive unemployment and zero growth.
The AK people crossed an especially dangerous red line when they fell out with Israel over the Marmara Incident, in which nine Turkish citizens on board a Gazan relief vessel were killed by Israel commandoes. Ankara all but broke off of full diplomatic relations with Israel. Effectively long established friendly co-operation between Turkey, the second largest NATO power, and Israel pitched into the deep freeze.
Turks are tasting sweet success for the first time since the reign of the founder Mustapha Kamal Ataturk, which matters a good deal more than scrap with Israel.
The AK party managed for the first time to bridge the gap between the pious Islamist majority, the quiescent conservatives seeking dramatic reforms, and neo-liberals. The coalition did not include the stoutly secular army or the former secular parties who suddenly found themselves out in the cold, all their power and privileged snatched away.
So why are Turks now apparently in a revolting mood against the very authorities who delivered the long sought boons of prosperity? The answer is this: some are, but the majority of Turks are against any change in government and still less any meddling with the hugely beneficial forms.
We see before us the classic example of rent-a-crowd. Many of the violent demonstrators are off duty members of the armed forces acting as agents provocateur (an old story in Turkey). They are deployed by the military High Command which seeks vengeance for the long running Ergenekon scandal which has seen many of the most senior officers arrested, tried and jailed for conspiring to overthrow the government.
Ergenekon (it means ‘iron mountain’ in Turkish) is the direct successor of Counter-Guerilla, the NATO sponsored deep state force involved in four attempts at overthrowing elected Turkish authorities, three successful, two of them extremely bloody.
These new disturbances feature all the same players: the whisky generals of the Turkish High Command, extreme Right anti-Islamic paramilitaries, secretive units of the national gendarmerie, gangs associated with the Turkish criminal underground, and not least the very same secular parties (notably the main opposition force, CHP) who found all the sweet joys of office and power snatched away when the AK leadership came to power.
Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, generally a master tactician, for once failed to spot the looming danger. He refused to treat the original eco protest seriously, still less appreciate the fuel supplied by the anti-Islamic forces backed by western interests.
When the protests spilled into the highly emotional Taksim Square (traditionally the seat of popular protest), he miscalculated the increasing danger to the AK authorities.
It is not too late to turn the situation around, but that would require a defeat for Erdogan who is bent on a plan to turn Istanbul into the most impressive modern metropolis on earth.
There are many Turks uneasy at the huge demolitions required for the projected third Bosporus bridge, for example. Erdogan reacted insensitively and found himself accused of steam-rolling popular resentment and concern.
So he now finds himself the victim of a long prepared plan, quiet kept in the locker, to overthrow the AK government when the appropriate circumstances ripened. They have.
We are watching a new roll-out of the Counter-Guerrilla/Gladio blueprint which undermined and brought down previous Turkish governments that strayed across the lines of political correctness in the eyes of to western strategists.
Erdoğan and the president and chief ally, Abdullah Gul, will need a good deal more than and courage soothing words – still less over-reactions on the ground – to put this fire out. These are perilous times for all Turks.
Edited by Madison Ruppert and WD
Richard Cottrell is a writer, journalist and former European MP (Conservative).
Source
Ostensibly the trouble began over the plans by the Istanbul municipality to redevelop part of Gezi Park close to Taksim (Constitution) Square, situated in the heart of the country’s largest city. Suddenly – and suspiciously – numbers or protestors swelled dramatically and the police, never renowned for their lightness of touch, moved in with full-scale anti-riot tactics.
In the subsequent violence the situation turned from an ecological ‘occupy’ sort of protest to a rolling stone with all the indications of the popular demonstrations which appeared in not dissimilar circumstances in Egypt, Tunisia and Tripoli.
Each demonstration of the popular pro-democracy will ended with the removal of the existing authorities. Libya’s leader, Colonel Gadaffi, was murdered. Turkey’s Erdoğan has already called the protesters “marauders.”
Turkey has long been a source of discontent in western circles, notably the CIA and the US state department. This is entirely because the country is in the hands of soft Islamic power which won three victories in a row by landslide majorities.
The election of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) emerged as a source of hope after years of instability, chaos and economic backwardness. The new AK leaders switched on a humming dynamo of economic reforms which transformed the slothful economy into a huge source of growth.
Only last week, the government repaid the last installment on an outstanding loan contracted from the IMF by the former secular governments, whose only legacy was massive unemployment and zero growth.
The AK people crossed an especially dangerous red line when they fell out with Israel over the Marmara Incident, in which nine Turkish citizens on board a Gazan relief vessel were killed by Israel commandoes. Ankara all but broke off of full diplomatic relations with Israel. Effectively long established friendly co-operation between Turkey, the second largest NATO power, and Israel pitched into the deep freeze.
Turks are tasting sweet success for the first time since the reign of the founder Mustapha Kamal Ataturk, which matters a good deal more than scrap with Israel.
The AK party managed for the first time to bridge the gap between the pious Islamist majority, the quiescent conservatives seeking dramatic reforms, and neo-liberals. The coalition did not include the stoutly secular army or the former secular parties who suddenly found themselves out in the cold, all their power and privileged snatched away.
So why are Turks now apparently in a revolting mood against the very authorities who delivered the long sought boons of prosperity? The answer is this: some are, but the majority of Turks are against any change in government and still less any meddling with the hugely beneficial forms.
We see before us the classic example of rent-a-crowd. Many of the violent demonstrators are off duty members of the armed forces acting as agents provocateur (an old story in Turkey). They are deployed by the military High Command which seeks vengeance for the long running Ergenekon scandal which has seen many of the most senior officers arrested, tried and jailed for conspiring to overthrow the government.
Ergenekon (it means ‘iron mountain’ in Turkish) is the direct successor of Counter-Guerilla, the NATO sponsored deep state force involved in four attempts at overthrowing elected Turkish authorities, three successful, two of them extremely bloody.
These new disturbances feature all the same players: the whisky generals of the Turkish High Command, extreme Right anti-Islamic paramilitaries, secretive units of the national gendarmerie, gangs associated with the Turkish criminal underground, and not least the very same secular parties (notably the main opposition force, CHP) who found all the sweet joys of office and power snatched away when the AK leadership came to power.
Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, generally a master tactician, for once failed to spot the looming danger. He refused to treat the original eco protest seriously, still less appreciate the fuel supplied by the anti-Islamic forces backed by western interests.
When the protests spilled into the highly emotional Taksim Square (traditionally the seat of popular protest), he miscalculated the increasing danger to the AK authorities.
It is not too late to turn the situation around, but that would require a defeat for Erdogan who is bent on a plan to turn Istanbul into the most impressive modern metropolis on earth.
There are many Turks uneasy at the huge demolitions required for the projected third Bosporus bridge, for example. Erdogan reacted insensitively and found himself accused of steam-rolling popular resentment and concern.
So he now finds himself the victim of a long prepared plan, quiet kept in the locker, to overthrow the AK government when the appropriate circumstances ripened. They have.
We are watching a new roll-out of the Counter-Guerrilla/Gladio blueprint which undermined and brought down previous Turkish governments that strayed across the lines of political correctness in the eyes of to western strategists.
Erdoğan and the president and chief ally, Abdullah Gul, will need a good deal more than and courage soothing words – still less over-reactions on the ground – to put this fire out. These are perilous times for all Turks.
Edited by Madison Ruppert and WD
Richard Cottrell is a writer, journalist and former European MP (Conservative).
Source
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