by Mish
US military intelligence is once again on the bottom of things. Turkey joins the long list of failures (unless the US played a role in this)
— Mike “Mish” Shedlock (@MishGEA) July 15, 2016
The Wall Street Journal reports NATO Officials Scramble for News of Turkey Coup.
North Atlantic Treaty Organization delegations scrambled for news on the attempted coup in Turkey and to sort out conflicting reports.
An official with Turkey’s delegation to NATO said there was no protocol to follow and he was waiting for instructions. The official said he was watching television news to try and make sense of what is going on, but had received no briefings from Ankara.
A spokeswoman for the alliance declined to comment.
Alliance officials privately expressed surprise, noting that while the Turkish military had once again grown more powerful and influential, the era when it held a powerful check on civilian leaders was thought to be in the past.
Add stunning events unfolding in #Turkey to the world’s growing list of once-improbables (& some once-unthinkables) that have become reality
— Mohamed A. El-Erian (@elerianm) July 15, 2016
Asylum Rejected?
Here’s an interesting statement in The Hill: “Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was denied landing rights in Istanbul, NBC reported, and attempted to seek asylum in Germany, where he was also rejected. He is reportedly en route to London. But calling into CNN, a senior adviser to Yildirim, Cemal Hasini, said that Erdogan was in Istanbul.”
Just in from @AP: Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency reporting military helicopter has attacked Ankara police headquarters.
— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) July 15, 2016
WSJ Live Update
The Wall Street Journal provides another Live Update on Turkey.
In the early hours of Saturday, it was still unclear who controlled the levers of power in the nation of 79 million, which is a key ally in the fight against Islamic State, a host to the U.S. military and partner stemming the flood of refugees to Europe. Troops have imposed a nationwide curfew, shut down Istanbul’s international airport, closed two main bridges over the Bosphorus Strait and have taken over the state-run television station.
by Dion Nissenbaum
Calling Turkey a key ally in fighting Isis is well beyond wishful thinking to the point of pure Fantasyland material. Erdogan wants to build an Islamist state, took over the press, made himself a virtual dictator, and fought with the Kurds, our true ally against Isis.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
