I've just been glued to my Twitter app for about the past two hours. There's no way to post on a story as fast-moving at the coup in Turkey. There's been all kinds of conflicting information, and some just plain crazy developments, especially the moment when President Erdoğan took to Face Time to announce that he was still in control and there'd be major repercussions against the coup plotters. Erdoğan urged citizens to rise up and take to the streets, and frankly, within minutes cable news reports started showing hordes of people out and about, protesting and gathering.
I'm going to look for the Sky News video of Erdoğan, but probably the best thing I saw of all this was Barbara Starr's reporting on CNN. She discussed all the intense linkages between Turkey and the U.S., including the former's key role in NATO, from which the U.S. is authorized to launch air missions from Turkish military bases. Turkey's also an incredibly strategic state, with its location at the entry-points to the Middle East from the south and to Europe from the north. And the U.S. sends billions of dollars in direct foreign aid to the regime in Ankara, so the investment is multifaceted. And then there's the fight against Islamic State and U.S. policy toward Assad's regime in Syria. Frankly, Turkey's looking like a linchpin over there, sheesh.
In any case, here's Starr at CNN. I'll update throughout the night. I've gotta say, this is an extremely interesting story from a number of angles. Donald Trump tweeted his support for the coup plotters, which may prove rather tantalizing, even problematic, depending on events.
In any case, there's too much conflicting information on who's in control.
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