Now Erdogan ‘wants to smash secret NATO army’ over alleged role in Turkey coup

 

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Now Erdogan ‘wants to smash secret NATO army’ over alleged role in Turkey coup

 

PRESIDENT Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants to destroy a secret NATO army over its alleged role in the failed military coup.

PRESIDENT Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants to destroy a secret NATO army
AFP GETTY  —  PRESIDENT Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants to destroy a secret NATO army

Turkish media now claims operatives from the clandestine Cold War Operation Gladio took part in the .Turkey’s government says the coup attempt was orchestrated by followers of , a Muslim cleric who has lived in self-imposed exile in the United States since 1999.

Mr Gulen denies the charge and has condemned the coup.

Conspiracy theories over foreign involvement have been fuelled by Turkish media, with some claiming Mr Gulen is a member of the NATO secret army.Operation Gladio was the codename for a clandestine NATO operation in Italy during the Cold War to prepare for and carry out armed resistance there in the event of a Warsaw Pact invasion and conquest.

Turkish journalist Ozcan Tikit wrote in Turkish newspaper Habertürk: “If one wants to again create relationship of trust with the Western institutions, Gladio in Turkey must be eliminated as it already was in several Western countries.”

President Erdogan is said to be determined to remove Gladio from Turkey.Turkish propaganda claims the secret network is responsible for a number of political murders in the country.

The claim comes just days after .

He told Turkish media that Gulen was a pawn backed by a “mastermind”.

President Erdogan’s government has rounded up 60,000 people in the wake of the failed coup
AFP GETTY —  President Erdogan’s government has rounded up 60,000 people in the wake of the failed coup

Operation Gladio was the codename for a clandestine NATO operation in Italy during the Cold War
GETTY  —  Operation Gladio was the codename for a clandestine NATO operation in Italy during the Cold War

The Turkish President often refers to a “mastermind” in his speeches, a reference widely seen as an allusion to the West in general and the (US) more specifically.The US has denied any involvement and any prior knowledge of the failed attempt to overthrow the government.

Turkey is currently under a state of emergency.

Fethullah Gulen has denied any involvement in the coup
GETTY  — Fethullah Gulen has denied any involvement in the coup

At least 294 people were killed in the July coup
AFP  At least 294 people were killed in the July coup

Former head of Turkish intelligence services Bülent Orakoglu has claimed NATO’s secret army is working to destroy the European Union (EU).Since the failed coup President Erdogan’s government has rounded up 60,000 people including rebels, judges, civil servants and teachers.

Turkish politicians have been frustrated by US and European criticism of the purge that has followed the coup, accusing the West of greater concern about the rights of the plotters than the gravity of the threat to a NATO member state.

As part of the crackdown President Erdogan has issued two decrees dismissing around 3,000 members of NATO’s second-biggest armed forces since the coup, including more than 40 per cent of generals.He has also shut down military high schools and brought force commanders under tighter government control.

In the next 40 hours Turkey complete an overhaul of its intelligence agency and make new appointments to its gendarmerie as it tries to rid its security apparatus of reported followers of Mr Gulen.

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http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/696329/Erdogan-wants-to-smash-secret-NATO-army-over-alleged-role-in-Turkey-military-coup