Erdogan still feels insecure after failed coup: Analyst

Press TV has conducted an interview with Catherine Shakdam, director of Shafaqna Institute for Middle Eastern Studies, about Turkish police detaining three former diplomats, including Gurcan Balik, an advisor to US-based Turkish opposition figure Fethullah Gulen, over links to the July 15 failed coup attempt.

Here is a rough transcription of the interview:

Press TV: What do these recent arrests, especially this prominent figure, tell us about the possible people and reasons behind the failed coup?

Shakdam: From the very beginning I think that Ankara came out, President Erdogan came out and pointed the finger at the CIA and since then everything that he has done has only reinforced this belief. Whether or not it is true remains to be determined but I think that in view of how President Erdogan has behaved and what has inspired since it is I think a very fair assessment of the situation and I think that what he is doing today reinforced again this shift that he is making towards the East and he is abandoning I think whatever Western ambition that he had and whatever belief he had once upon a time that his Western so-called allies would actually stand by him and support him in his own policies.

I think that clearly this betrayal has been felt very deeply and he is lashing out and in many ways he is behaving a bit like a child because he is trying to punish those he trusted for so very long, not realizing that for a very long time his former partners, if you look at Russia, if you look at Iran and if you look at other countries in the region, actually warned him that this would happen if he was to ally himself with those people who have betrayed Arab countries in the Middle East, I mean Middle Eastern countries and Asian countries time and time over.

So I think it is a very good lesson, I would say, in Western imperialism and how they conduct the affair and I do not think President Erdogan will be caught again into believing whatever it is that is coming out of Western capitals.  

Press TV: What is the likelihood of another coup in Turkey? In other words, has the Turkish government been able to quell this coup totally in order to prevent it from happening again?

Shakdam: It is always difficult because you could look for example there are many ways that Western powers could actually play or engineer a coup in Turkey, I mean no country I think is safe. If you look at the way that they have actually even attempted in Iran to create some tensions and to foment some form of sectarianism or to try to have social unrest by playing terror, this has happened to many countries, I mean look at Syria, look at Yemen.

So there is a possibility where they might actually use Daesh militants and terrorism to try to see if they could maybe shake Turkey’s institutions or maybe they will attempt to have some form of a Color Revolution where they would pretend and use those agencies, those civil societies that Democrats are so fond of to try to again engineer some tensions and unrest and maybe oust President Erdogan.

Another big fan of what Turkey has become, but again as long as the people are comfortable with the government that they have, they are happy with the officials that they have, then I do not think it is for us to judge and all we can do is really support people’s political self-determinations right and this is something that Iran by the way and Russia have stood by time and time again even though they might not agree with such governments but they respect the principles of democracy.

I think this is important but again yes, I do not think Mr. Erdogan is safe still, I think he realizes that which is why he is now looking to form new partnership and try to mend those bridges that he burnt.         

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