TURKEY: new accusations against UAE for financing anti-Erdogan coup

Sources in Turkey have named the United Arab Emirates as one of the main culprits behind the failed coup attempt against the regime of Recep Tayyip Erdogan which was launched in the summer of 2016.

Turkey initially blamed the exiled political Islamist and cleric Fethullah Gülen who was an erstwhile ally of Erdogan’s before the two fell out. Turkey now considers Fethullah Gülen’s movement a terrorist sect which is proscribed in Turkey.

In 2016, Turkey also pointed its finger at the United States for allegedly financing Gülen who has been living in the US since fleeing Turkey.

Now though, according to Turkish journalist Mehmet Acet who writes for the pro-regime Yeni Safak newspaper, it was the UAE who financed the coup to the tune of $3 billion.

Acet cites remarks by Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu as an indication that the UAE sponsored the coup. Mevlut Cavusoglu stated,

“We know that a country provided $3 billion in financial support for the coup attempt in Turkey and exerted efforts to topple the government in illegal ways. On top of that, it is a Muslim country”.

Acet who is known to have connections with Erdogan’s AKP faction, stated that the Foreign Minister was referring to the UAE as the Arab country which financed the coup.

According to Acet, the UAE funnelled the money to Gulenist factions in Turkey shortly before the coup broke out.

Although this sensational report cannot be taken at face value, suggestions that the coup was financed from abroad do have a measure of credibility. Previous Turkish coups have been internal matters organised by top brass of Turkey’s highly professional army.

It is known that many of Turkey’s veteran generals dislike Erdogan’s anti-secular regime, however because Erdogan has imprisoned or relieved so many Kemalist military men and jurists from their duty, the attempted coup in 2016 was organised by fairly low level personnel who could have well be motivated by an injection of foreign cash. Their level of organisation was far less professional than any previous modern Turkish coup.

What we do know for a fact is that the Qatar crisis has dramatically changed the tune of state-run media in both Qatar and Saudi Arabia, the country which has spearheaded the boycott of Qatar. Saudi media is now openly agitating for the anti-Turkish Kurdish cause while state-owned Qatari media has been quick to suddenly point out Saudi Arabia’s war crimes in Yemen, something Russian and Iranian media have covered for years.

Likewise, while pro-Erdogan media in Turkey have always had a positive view of Qatar, now they are openly attacking countries like Saudi and UAE who have come out against Qatar.

Between the turning tide of the new propaganda campaigns from the media outlets of the nations effected by the crisis over Qatar, perhaps the real truth behind the 2016 attempted coup in Turkey will never be fully known.