Tremors from Turkey coup rattle US, EU

AFP, Istanbul :From the roads of Pennsylvania and corridors of power in Washington to the public squares of Cologne and EU offices in Brussels, the shockwaves from the July 15 failed coup have gone well beyond Turkey.The aftermath of the coup that aimed to unseat President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has prompted a drastic sharpening in Turkish rhetoric towards the EU and US, with Ankara saying it feels let down by an apparent lack of solidarity.Analysts say it would be unlikely for now that Turkey, a NATO member since 1952 and EU candidate for decades, could readjust its pro-Western stance or recalibrate its policy towards traditional rivals like Russia.But the ferocity of the rhetoric has been unprecedented, with Erdogan Tuesday accusing Turkey’s Western allies of supporting the plotters and taking particular offence that Germany refused to let him address a rally in the western city Cologne via video conference.Erdogan has meanwhile warned Washington it will put relations at stake if it fails to extradite Fethullah Gulen, the Pennsylvania-based preacher who Ankara accuses of being at the heart of the coup plot, charges he denies.”You have to be blind and deaf not to understand that he is behind all of this,” Erdogan said.Yet to Erdogan’s fury, Washington has yet to show any sign of moving against Gulen, insisting Turkey is a key partner while saying Ankara must send evidence and not just speculation.Yet the crisis has erupted at a time when the Ankara-Washington relationship is as important as ever, with the United States needing Turkish help in the battle against Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria.US fighter jets use Turkey’s southern base of Incirlik as a crucial launch point for lethal raids against IS targets in neighbouring Syria.Extremely worryingly for a base that houses dozens of American tactical nuclear weapons, Incirlik was also a key point in the coup with its Turkish commander arrested and power temporarily shut down.Meanwhile, the US military has also been unsettled by the sacking and arrest of nearly half of Turkey’s generals, and believed to include figures who worked closely with American forces at Incirlik.But Turkey is still for Washington an “essential partner in the Middle East” and will do all it can to satisfy Ankara “even if they are not going to cede on Gulen”, said Jean Marcou, Turkey expert at Sciences Po in Grenoble.