Former military chief Ilker Basbug has expressed his support for Turkish government's war against the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), which the government blames for being behind the July 15 defeated coup.
Speaking to a committee probing the failed coup in Ankara on Thursday, Basbug said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had fought decisively against FETO from 2012 until the coup bid.
"I also fought alone in 2008 and 2010 [when he served as military chief]. If everybody had kept in step with Erdogan's struggle [against the group], July 15 would not have happened," he said. He also said that he had always backed the operation to remove FETO from Turkey. "If the coup had succeeded there would not have been any democracy, secular state system or state of law in Turkey," he said.
Basbug was Turkey’s 26th chief of General Staff. He was arrested in 2012 on charges of "establishing and leading a terrorist organization" and "attempting to destroy the Turkish government or attempting to partially or completely prevent its functioning".
In 2013, Basbug was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment following the Ergenekon coup trial, which was carried out by FETO-linked prosecutors Zekeriya Oz, Mehmet Ali Pekguzel and Nihat Taskin.
The case was filed against 274 people, including military officers, politicians and journalists over an alleged conspiracy to overthrow the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party government.
However, the Constitutional Court released Basbug in 2014, ruling that his imprisonment had been "a breach of his rights."
After his release, Basbug had said Ergenekon was "artificial," and other army generals convicted in the case were innocent. Likewise, Turkish authorities also said the Sledgehammer (Balyoz) and Ergenekon trials had been based on fabricated evidence.
The convictions have since been quashed and the prosecutions have been blamed on Gulen’s supporters in the criminal justice system who were trying to purge the military of their rival officers to clear the path for promotion of Gulenists.
FETO, led by U.S.-based Fetullah Gulen, is accused of orchestrating Turkey’s July 15 coup plot as well as being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.
The covert war between the U.S. and Turkey is expanding throughout the region. Ankara is besieging the U.S. which prepares its 'most effective' ground force, the YPG for the next battle in Raqqa, from three major fronts in Turkey's border line with sophisticated tactics and strategies.
The US officials recently announced that they will use the PYD of which they priorly used in the invasion of Manbij, also on the front line of the battle in Raqqa. The U.S. commander of Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve and the XVIII Airborne Corps Stephen Townsend said, “The only force that is capable on any near term timeline are the Syrian Democratic Forces, of which the YPG are a significant portion.”
Turkey responded the US' Raqqa plan with significantly critical steps in al-Bab, Manbij and Afrin. Ankara gave the message to advance until it purges the YPG and Islamic State (IS) from the northern Syria. Turkey's cross-border 'Euphrates Shield' operation caused trouble particularly for the U.S. geopolitical strategy to dominate northern Syria by creating an autonomous Kurdish zone in other words the 'Kurdish corridor' along the Turkish border.
Aydınlık sources report that the diverging geopolitical interests of Turkey and the US are almost diametrically opposed as Turkey is openly confronting the international coalition and the US in Syria and Iraq. The tension is rapidly rising. Turkey does not hesitate to show its weapon to its old allies and new foes.
The arms industry also took its share from the covert war. Aydınlık intelligence sources report that the U.S. and Germany has slowed down the sales of the military equipments to Turkey. Non-tariff barriers concerning the auxiliary equipments were increased. Moreover, there are some fresh attempts to block Turkey's national defense projects. Former National Defense Minister Barlas Doğu said, ''Turkey will not be deterred by these threats. The defense industry must urgently be nationalized.''
Barlas also said, “We've seen this movie before. The U.S. Embargo on Turkey after the Cyprus Peace Operation in 1974 is a good example for that. Turkey and the Turkish Armed Forces are experienced on such cases. Actually these sort of steps are useful for Turkey as we understood the importance of the national defense industry after the U.S. Embargo in the late 70s. We later on began to develop our weapons and other military equipments.“
A security expert who preferred to withhold his name for security reasons told Aydınlık, “Two of the major reasons of the covert embargo imposed by the US and the Western countries are Turkey's inrceasing collaboration with Russia and also Turkey's efforts to intervene the U.S. Kurdish corridor plan in the northern Syria.“
Doğu, stating that the covert embargo imposed to Turkey by the US and its allies is the reflection of a traitorous point of view while they are at the same time providing weapons and ammunition to the PKK/PYD.
Doğu said, “At the time I was serving as the Defense Minister of Turkey we made a deal with the US regarding the the FIM-92 Stinger Man-Portable Air-Defense System (MANPADS). We produced the %30 of the manpads with Roketsan [a major Turkish weapons manufacturer and defense contractor]. Then we wanted to increase the national share in the production of the system and faced the pressure of the relevant countries.“
Doğu stated that he's familiar with the actual Western perspective concerning this issue and pointed out that Turkey produced T-155 Fırtına (Storm) 155mm self-propelled howitzer after the German embargo and now Roketsan is just developed 500 km. range missiles for the active defense of the country.