US stance on attempted coup in Turkey 'complete hypocrisy': Analyst

The United States expressed support for the Turkish government as an attempted coup was underway in the country, because both Ankara and Washington have been supporting Daesh terrorists in the Middle East, says a political commentator.

In an interview with Press TV, Scott Bennett, a former US Army psychological warfare officer, explained that the US position towards the coup attempt “is essentially complete hypocrisy.”

“The United States secretary of state, John Kerry, and President [Barack] Obama have a notorious history in supporting coup d’états, not supporting democracy; and supporting violent overthrows of government, not supporting the people,” he said.

A faction of the Turkish military launched an ill-fated coup late on Friday night, by using tanks and attack helicopters in an attempt to seize power from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim.

Shortly afterwards, Obama urged support for the “democratically-elected” government of Turkey.

Bennett explained that “the reason that Obama is standing with Endogen, of course, is because they have been financing and funding ISIS (Daesh) and trying to use ISIS to destabilize President Bashar al-Assad in Syria.”

Another reason why Washington stands by Erdogan, according to Bennett, is that it “knows that if Erdogan was deposed--if he was removed—it would essentially establish Turkey as the new Switzerland of the Middle East, where Turkey, could at that point, make new deals with all countries as its neighbors and, in a way that would make it a very independent country, could not be controlled by the United States or NATO.”

Relations between Ankara and Washington have been rocky, but both have broadly cooperated in the military campaign in Iraq and Syria.

Bennet said Erdogan is trying to blame US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen for the attempted coup and saying that “any supporters of this cleric are enemies and in war with Turkey.”

“So that’s a very significant statement because that essentially says Turkey is at war with the United States, because the cleric, that is given sanctuary by the United States is launching a proxy war and proxy coup against Erdogan and Turkey,” he added.

Kerry invited Ankara on Saturday to share any evidence it has against Gulen. He said the US had not yet received a formal extradition request for Gulen, who is now being blamed for the Friday night’s coup attempt.

Gulen, once a close ally of Erdogan, fled to the US in 1999 after former secular authorities laid charges against him. Turkey says it has asked the US to extradite him but Washington has shown little interest in doing so.

Erdogan claims Gulen has built a network of supporters in Turkey’s police, media and judiciary and is conspiring to oust his government. Gulen, however, denies the allegations.

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