Was the military coup in Turkey all that unexpected? Not to anyone paying attention. Between Erdogan's increasingly militant Islamic slant, the dissolution of Syria, the ISIS poison crossing the border, increasing Kurdish unrest, and the possible behind-the-scenes machinations of Vladimir Putin, I figured something along this line might happen. What is surprising is that US intelligence organs apparently had no idea such a thing might be in the works. Then again, US intelligence operations have become increasingly ineffective since The Won took office.
This isn't the first time a faction within the Turkish military staged a coup to oust a government they saw as increasingly problematic and not working in the best interests of Turkey.
It will be interesting to see how this all works out. If the faction that has taken power is nothing but a puppet of Putin, there is likely to be a civil war within Turkey. That certainly helps Putin weaken NATO and leaves him more room to exercise his empire building ambitions. If the faction is pro-Western, then it's possible we'll see closer ties with Turkey.
In the end, we'll all have to wait and see.
