Erdogan realigning with Russia following coup attempt: Analyst

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is realigning himself with Russia following the failed CIA-backed coup d'etat against his government, according to American political analyst E. Michael Jones.

Jones, the editor of Culture Wars magazine, made the remarks in a phone interview with Press TV while commenting on the US announcement to impose new sanctions on Syria, targeting the arms and financial networks of the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

The Department of the Treasury on Thursday included eight individuals and seven entities to its sanctions blacklist, which aims to cut them out of the global financial system.

“These sanctions on Syria come at a crucial moment – the crucial moment being in the wake of a failed coup d'etat in Turkey,” Jones said.

“What we are seeing here is a shift in the alliance in the Middle East. President Erdogan having defeated the coup, which was inspired by – some say – by the West, by the CIA, is now realigning himself with Russia,” he pointed out.

“This is going to change the whole tenor of the war in Syria,” the analyst observed.   

Since March 2011, the United States and its regional allies, in particular Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey, have been conducting a proxy war against Syria.

The conflict has left more than 470,000 Syrians dead and half of the country’s population of about 23 million displaced within or beyond the Arab country’s borders.

In September 2014, the US and some of its allies started conducting airstrikes inside Syria against Daesh terrorists, many of whom were initially trained by the CIA to fight against the Syrian government.

In September of last year, Russia launched its own air offensive against the terrorists who were still wreaking havoc in Syria. The Russian campaign, analysts say, has broken the backbone of ISIL and other militants.

Jones said “I suspect these sanctions are reaction to what President Erdogan just did in Turkey, an attempt to reestablish their initiative in Syria at a time when it’s falling apart because of the Turkish coup d'etat.”

Turkish authorities have blamed US-based opposition cleric Fethullah Gulen for the failed coup attempt that left at least 265 dead.

Washington said it would consider an extradition request, while warning its NATO ally that public suggestions of a US involvement in the plot were “utterly false” and damaging to bilateral relations.

The attempted coup complicated the US military operations in Iraq and Syria. Turkey closed its airspace to military aircraft and cut off power to Incirlik air base, a major launch point for US air strikes against purported Daesh positions.

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