Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan fought off a coup attempt last week, but a top foreign policy adviser to Donald Trump says the fallout may lead to a more Islamist Turkey bent on crushing any dissent and he says that uncertainty adds even more evidence that a change is needed in U.S. foreign policy.
Military elements launched the coup on Friday but just hours later it was a clear failure. Nonetheless, Turkey will remain in a state of upheaval for some time.
“This does not mean that the tensions are gone. Tensions will remain. It all depends on how the Erdogan government is going to behave after crushing the coup,” said Dr. Walid Phares, a longtime terrorism and Middle East expert. He was announced as a foreign policy adviser to Trump back in May.
Since the failed coup, the Turkish authorities have rounded up thousands of military personnel, many of whom have nothing to with the plot to oust Erdogan. In addition, thousands of judges and other government workers are in custody.
Phares finds this especially worrisome.
“One thing is to stop a military coup. We don’t like to accept military coups in the 21st century. Another thing is to use that military coup to have a counter-coup and then eliminate an entire political opposition,” said Phares.
He says Erdogan may well use the coup as grounds to trample rights and ditch Turkey’s secular legacy.
“This could be an excuse that this government could use to control political life completely and then move the country towards becoming an Islamic regime,” said Phares.
Phares says Turkey is just the latest example of why American voters need to reject the current U.S. foreign policy and align with Trump. He says the Obama administration has made things worse everywhere from Iraq to Syria, Egypt to Libya, and Yemen to Iran.
On top of that, we now have an unleashed urban jihad in the West, from San Bernardino to Orlando to Paris. This is enough evidence for any voter, whether they be a Republican, Democrat or independent, that we need to change course,” said Phares.
He says Trump wants a stable Middle East and has three major pieces of his plan to accomplish that.
“The U.S. is perceived as weak. It’s perceived as weak so we’ve got to change that perception,” said Phares.
He also says we need better international teammates.
“We’re going to form coalitions. You can’t be operating left and right without having coalitions of moderates in the Arab world, in the region, with the Europeans,” he said.
Finally, he says we need to start working with people who will build a responsible Middle East.
“We need to work with civil society forces instead of running around and strengthening rebel jihadists. We should be working with NGO’s in civil societies. In the long term these, are the forces that will stabilize these societies from the inside and isolate the jihadis or the terrorists,” said Phares.
