The former commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, retired US Army General John F. Campbell, was the mastermind behind the failed military coup in Turkey, the Yeni Safak daily has reported, citing sources close to investigation.
General John F. Campbell, 59, was "one of the top figures who organized and managed the soldiers behind the failed coup attempt in Turkey," the conservative paper's English-language edition said on Monday.
The paper is known for its loyal support of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was the target of the coup attempt.
According to Yeni Safak, Campbell "also managed more than $2 billion in transactions via UBA Bank in Nigeria by using CIA links to distribute among the pro-coup military personnel in Turkey."
Turkey-US ties will suffer unless Gulen extradited, foreign minister says
The retired US general had allegedly paid "at least two secret visits" to Turkey since May up to the attempted coup, which the Turkish authorities blamed on what they call the Fethullah Terrorist Organization (FETO).
Turkey’s foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, warned on Monday that ties with Washington could suffer unless they extradite the US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, Erdogan's ideological adversary. Washington has repeatedly said that Turkey must provide solid evidence of any links Gulen might have to the attempted coup before any possible extradition process is discussed.
The Turkish daily reported that Campbell had top secret meetings at the Erzurum military base and Incirlik air base in Turkey, adding that the US general "directed the process of trending / blacklisting the military officers in the base."
According to the paper, "Millions of dollars of money has been transferred from Nigeria to Turkey by a group of CIA personnel. The money, which has been distributed to an 80-person special team of the CIA, was used to convince pro-coup generals. After taking money from their bank accounts, the CIA team hand-delivered it to the terrorists under the military dresses."
A total of 13,165 people have been detained in connection with the foiled coup attempt in Turkey, President Erdogan said on Sunday. He mentioned that 8,838 of those arrested are soldiers, 2,101 are judges and prosecutors, 1,485 are police officers, 52 are local authorities and 689 are civilians, as reported by the Hurriyet daily. He added that 934 schools, 109 dormitories, 15 universities, 104 foundations, 35 health institutions, 1,125 associations and 19 unions were closed as they belonged to what he described as “the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization.”
A joint indictment of 73 suspects, including Gulen, was approved by an Ankara court on Saturday.
During a speech to the Turkish parliament, Erdogan called Gulen, his former ally, a “dishonest traitor.” “The FETO terror group, who are abusing people’s tax money to purchase guns, tanks, warplanes, heavy weapons and use against the nation, are rascals, traitors and dishonest,” Erdogan said last week, branding FETO “a virus that has metastasized.”
On Monday, the Turkish government issued detention warrants for over 40 journalists suspected of having links to the failed military coup, NTV reported. Amnesty International sounded the alarm on Sunday, saying it gathered “credible evidence” that people arrested in relation to the failed coup attempt have been “subjected to beatings and torture, including rape, in official and unofficial detention centers in the country.” “Reports of abuse including beatings and rape in detention are extremely alarming, especially given the scale of detentions that we have seen in the past week. The grim details that we have documented are just a snapshot of the abuses that might be happening in places of detention,” said Amnesty International’s Europe director, John Dalhuisen.
Former CIA Officials Give Turkish Coup Plotters Advice On CNN
“I have been involved in coups before,” a former CIA officer said.
CNN Former CIA case officer Robert Baer, seen on CNN in 2015.
Oh, for the good old days ― when the CIA regularly assisted military coups d’états in foreign democracies.
Several former spooks appearing on CNN Friday night to discuss the attempted military coup in Turkey had more than a few pointers for the seemingly amateurish military officers leading the takeover efforts. And at least one contributor seemed more disappointed in their performance than relieved that the coup has thus far failed to topple a democratically elected government.
Leading the pack was Robert Baer, a veteran former CIA officer and author ― and, apparently, a former coup participant.
Baer told CNN anchor Anderson Cooper that the Turkish coup was “not professionally done.”
“I have been involved in coups before,” he said. “They should have taken CNN Turk and closed it down the first minutes, the radio station, social media, the internet. Even if they didn’t arrest [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan, they should have taken care of all of that right at the beginning.”
Baer also revealed that he had discussed the possibility of a coup with Turkish military officers in the past few months.
“I’ve been speculating with Turkish officers a couple months ago about a coup and they said, ‘Absolutely not,’” he said. “And clearly they’re not involved, so there’s limited support for this.”
Baer went on to acknowledge that the prospects of the coup’s success were bleak, but he argued that it could still prevail.
“If the Turkish army, these elements, want to go to war with the people, it would mean civil war,” Baer concluded. “And right now, it doesn’t look like it, but you know tomorrow is another day. And certainly people in the Turkish military aren’t certain ― or the government.”
James Woolsey, a former director of the CIA who has advocated for the hanging of National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden, offered his analysis of the Turkish coup on CNN earlier in the evening, arguing that it was a tactical failure.
“With coups, as with military operations, the plans never survive the first part of the operation,” Woolsey said. “You have to be flexible enough to change your tactics as you’re going through. And it doesn’t sound like these coup plotters had that kind of flexibility.”
The thing about these coups ― and we are certainly not encouraging it; we are discouraging it ― but history shows that if you are going to execute these coups, you have to really mean it. Retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark
Woolsey, who said he spent six months in Turkey last year, went on to imply that the coup need not change the U.S.’ close relationship with the country.
“I think there’s one thing ― this is not a happy situation and things may turn very sour ― but there is one positive aspect at least, that I’d be willing to share,” he said. “Turkey is a prosperous and progressive place with its workforce.”
“We need [Turkey] and we need to work with it and we need to have it work with us,” he concluded.
Retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark, a former leader of NATO’s presence in Europe, appeared on CNN in the same segment as Woolsey. (Turkey is a member of NATO.)
While Clark shared the criticism of the coup’s tactics, he was more careful to clarify that he was not supportive of military insurrections.
“The thing about these coups ― and we are certainly not encouraging it; we are discouraging it ― but history shows that if you are going to execute these coups, you have to really mean it,” Clark said.
Fighting between pro-coup army officers and the civilians and security forces supportive of the government has resulted in the deaths of at least 265 people, according to The New York Times.
By Saturday morning, the coup appeared to be in its last throes. Coup soldiers occupying major bridges in Istanbul surrendered to forces loyal to Erdogan, while the government detained thousands of troops implicated in the attempted takeover.
Erdogan returned triumphantly to Istanbul, the country’s largest city, on Saturday and his resumption of complete control of the country appears imminent.
The commentary of the former CIA officials about the Turkish coup is particularly notable because of the CIA’s long history of facilitating coups in foreign countries with an eye toward advancing U.S. geopolitical or financial interests. This was especially true during the Cold War, when the U.S. toppled numerous foreign governments around the world that it perceived to be too sympathetic to the Soviet Union.
CNN Former CIA director on CNN in February, 2015. The CIA is believed to have been at least passively complicit in a number of Turkish military coups since 1960. The U.S. military and intelligence agencies worked closely with Turkey’s national security establishment, sometimes called the “deep state” due to its hidden influence over Turkish politics, as part of the United States’ Cold War-era alliance with the country.
The U.S. has historically also been a partner in the Turkish military operations against Kurdish separatists in the southeastern part of the country ― operations that have routinely drawn criticism from human rights groups. For example, the U.S. helped Turkey find and capture Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan in 1999.
Notwithstanding some of the ambivalent-sounding commentary of former CIA officers, the Obama administration has been unequivocal in its support of the democratically elected Turkish government.
“The President and Secretary [of State] agreed that all parties in Turkey should support the democratically-elected government of Turkey, show restraint, and avoid any violence or bloodshed,” the White House said in a statement late on Friday.
That guy has a great book about his life and dealing with the clintons. It is call see no evil
It is great deals with clintons bay of pigs. not really good portrait and how clinton screwed up the cia. it wasn't in cuba but middle east. you'll understand how screwed up this country is.
The rebel pilot of an F-16 that had the Turkish president’s plane in its sights failed to strike only because the fighter jet ran out of fuel and had to change route, thus saving Erdogan’s life during the coup attempt, the pro-government Yeni Safak newspaper claims.
The F-16 tracked Erdogan’s plane on its radar, but couldn’t approach close enough to fire as its fuel was reportedly running low, forcing the pilot to abort the mission, according to Yeni Safak. The reason why the F-16 didn’t fire had remained unknown until recently, with a former military officer familiar with the events cited by Reuters as saying it was “a mystery.” “At least two F-16s harassed Erdogan’s plane while it was in the air and en route to Istanbul,” the officer noted.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan managed to cheat death twice overnight on June 15, Yeni Safak claims. Erdogan left the hotel in the resort town of Marmaris where he was on family holiday just “minutes” before an assassination squad came after him and then he evaded death in the air.
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President Erdogan’s Gulfstream IV TC-ATA was prepared for the flight in utmost secrecy, with no flight information revealed.
The Turkish leader was on his way to Istanbul, but had to temporarily change its flyway to the city of Izmir until it was safe to land at the initial destination point. His plane reached the city unscathed before daybreak on Saturday on July 16.
The unplanned changes in his route were previously explained by “trouble in the air,” as a high-ranking official put it, according to Reuters.
The coup plotters reportedly had bombed places in the resort town of Marmaris after he left, Erdogan said, according to Reuters. Around 25 assassinators dispatched to the area from a helicopter in an effort to seize and probably kill the Turkish president.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim allegedly was also targeted in Istanbul during the coup attempt but managed to escape.
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Turkey-US ties will suffer unless Gulen extradited, foreign minister says
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