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在线翻译:
szdaily -> Opinion -> 
Coup may estrange Turkey from West
    2016-07-25  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

    Winton Dong

    dht620@sina.com

    TURKEY has widened its crackdown on suspected supporters of the failed military coup last week, bringing the number of people in the country’s armed forces and judiciary organs who have been either detained or suspended close to 20,000. Among the arrested are 103 generals and admirals, which is about one-third of the total general-rank command of the Turkish army.

    The Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the coup, which swept the country on July 15 but was foiled by the next morning, had left at least 290 people killed and 1,400 people wounded. The death toll includes at least 190 civilians and 100 coup supporters.

    According to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the coup has offered a wonderful opportunity for him to launch a purge of the country’s armed forces. “They will pay heavy price for the coup. This uprising is a gift from God for us because this will be a reason to cleanse the army,” he said.

    However, a failed military coup attempt will surely destabilize Turkey, a NATO member and a major U.S. ally in the Middle East, which lies between the European Union and the chaos of Syria. Five years ago, the Arab uprisings erupted and plunged Turkey’s southern neighbor, Syria, into civil war.

    As a close friend of the United States in the area, Turkey is playing a crucial role for Washington in fighting the Islamic State. Last year, Turkey allowed the U.S. forces to use its Incirlik air base, in the southern Adana province, as a key point to carry out raids against Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq. However, on July 16 this year, one day after the coup, the commander of the air base, Brigadier General Bekir Ercan Van, along with a dozen Turkish air force officers, was detained. A Turkish official told AFP that Ankara suspected Incirlik was used to refuel the military aircraft of coup plotters. Since the coup, the Turkish Government has imposed a security lockdown on the air base, allowing no movement in or out.

    On July 16, Turkish Labor Minister Suleyman Soylu told the broadcaster Habertuck that he believed Washington was behind the coup attempt. Much more than that, Turkey claimed that Fethullah Gulen, a U.S.-based cleric, had plotted the coup. Turkish President Erdogan accused Gulen, his ally-turned sworn enemy, of fomenting, orchestrating and leading the coup.

    In a phone call with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry denied that the United States played any role in Turkey’s failed coup, and warned that such accusations could harm relations. However, he said that the U.S. Government would consider a formal extradition request on the condition that Turkey proves Gulen’s wrongdoing in the uprising. “Public insinuations or claims about any role by the U.S. in the failed coup attempt are utterly false and harmful to our bilateral relations,” Kerry said, adding that the U.S. is willing to provide assistance to the Turkish Government as it investigates the coup attempt.

    Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on July 19 that his country had sent Washington the evidence of Gulen’s wrongdoing, and criticized the United States for having a double standard in its fight against terrorism.

    

    The military coup also acts as a catalyst to estrange the relations between Turkey and the European Union. On July 17 President Erdogan’s supporters gathered in front of his mansion in Istanbul, and shouted slogans saying that the main plotters should face the death sentence, which Turkey outlawed in 2004 as part of its efforts to join the EU.

    “We cannot ignore this demand,” Erdogan told the chanting crowd. “In democracies, whatever the people say has to happen.”

    Germany warned Turkey on July 18 that if it really resumes the death penalty, its negotiation with the EU would be put to an end, because any nation with the death sentence cannot be an EU member.

    In March this year, the EU reached an agreement with the Turkish Government, offering more than 6 billion euros (US$6.67 billion) to help Turkey prevent an influx of Syrian refugees to European nations. It was the Syrian refugee issue that made Britain break away from the EU with the June 23 referendum.

    It is estimated that there are 2.7 million Syrian refugees within the territory of Turkey now. If Turkey fails to work as a buffer zone this time, then the integrity of the EU as a whole body will be further threatened.

    (The author is the editor-in-chief of the Shenzhen Daily with a Ph.D. from the Journalism and Communication School of Wuhan University.)

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