Turkey’s neighbours express relief at failure of ‘dark, desperate’ coup
TURKEY’S regional rivals responded with relief at the collapse of the putsch yesterday, underscoring how gravely a civil conflict could have destabilised the region.
Iran and Israel, both of which have difficult relationships with Turkey’s president, Mr Erdogan, condemned the attempted coup. Javad Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister, hailed the Turkish people’s “defence of democracy and their elected government”, which he said “proves that coups have no place in our region and are doomed to fail”.
Israel last month approved a deal to restore ties with Ankara, the Turkish capital, which were frozen after a deadly Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound Turkish ship in 2010. Tel Aviv condemned the coup. “Israel respects the democratic process in Turkey and looks forward to the continuation of the reconciliation process between Turkey and Israel,” said a foreign ministry spokesman.
At the same time, Hamas, the Gaza group which is sponsored by Turkey, denounced the “vicious” plot and “congratulated the people and the Turkish leadership for successfully protecting democracy”.
The Turkey-based Syrian National Coalition, the opposition group backed by Turkey, condemned the “dark and desperate attempts that sought to take control of the popular will”. In Damascus, the early news of the putsch was met with celebratory gunfire.
The failure of the uprising was also celebrated in the Gulf states. Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the emir of Qatar, called Mr Erdogan by phone while Bahrain made a similar statement rejecting any attempt to undermine “constitutional legitimacy under the leadership” of Mr Erdogan.
A Saudi foreign ministry official said that the kingdom “had followed with much concern developments in brotherly Turkey” and “welcomes the return of the situation to normal”. Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sudan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan also expressed support.
In Britain, the Government’s emergency Cobra committee met to discuss the situation with the ambassador and embassy staff in Ankara joining by video link. They considered the implications for Britain’s relationship with Turkey, counter-terrorism and British nationals in the country
The crisis is also the first major test for Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, who has Turkish ancestry.
He said yesterday that it was “crucial that we support the democratic institutions of Turkey” following talks with Mevlut Cavusoglu, his counterpart.
“We’ve been monitoring the situation in Turkey very closely overnight and remain very concerned about what’s been going on there,” he said. “We want to urge calm, the avoidance of any further bloodshed.”
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor who was the architect of a deal to halt refugee flows with help from Mr Erdogan’s government, said the killing was “tragic” but demanded that Mr Erdogan deal with the plotters “under the rule of law”.
President Barack Obama yesterday gathered his top national security officials in the Situation Room of the White House to discuss the putsch, and publicly voiced support for the “democratically elected” government.
The Turkish authorities have imposed a security lockdown and cut power to the Incirlik air base in southern Turkey, a major installation which is used by US forces for strikes on Isil in Iraq and Syria.
Separately, a US defence official said American forces across Turkey had been placed on maximum alert.