The Coup of July 15th 2016: Erdogan and his Shadow

(speech of Alexander Dugin in Turkey, July 2018)

I would like to commemorate the memory of all the heroes who have fallen defending the sovereignty of Turkey, the dignity of Turkish people, its identity, freedom, and independence on 15^thJuly 2016. I`m sure that without such sacrifices Turkey wouldn`t exist today. 

This was not simply a classic case of regime change – it was existential challenge for Turkey. From what I know, the Kurds in Turkey and beyond the border were prepared to take the next step if the coup was successful. Turkey could have been transformed into a new Iraq, Libya or Syria, suffering a bloody civil war. The people who sacrificed their lives didn’t do so for Erdogan’s sake, but for the glory of Turkish people. 

Thanks to these sacrifices we can meet today in an independent, powerful, free and stable Turkey.

I would like to stress the expression some are using, (that I like very much) by calling this coup d’etat a “postmodern coup”. I think that the coup of 15 July 2016 was very different from previous coups in Turkey by its very nature. Previous coups (such as 1960, 1971, 1980, 1993) were Kemalist. They were carried out  -- at least ostensibly -- in order to restore stability in Turkey, to preserve its independence and to find the way out of political chaos presented as a threat to democracy. These coups were not democratic, but they were essentially patriotic. And that`s why we use the term «Deep State» (Derin Devlet) to refer to a structure of patriotic military groups that considered themselves to be the guardians of Kemalist Turkey, and of Turkish heritage, because to this “Deep State” independence and sovereignty were above all other political interests. When the Derin Devletfelt that there was a threat to the Turkish identity, it reacted, suspending democratic rules.

But the July 15^th coup was completely different. It was organized by a Parallel Devlet, a «Parallel State».  To understand how this was possible, we need to delve deeper into its essence. Thr postmodern coup on July 15^thwas not organized by the army - the army was used and not in the interest of the Turkish state. It was organized againstTurkish State, against order, against the Turkish people, in order to destroy, to manipulate, to transform Turkey into another failed state. 

The plot began during the early stage of Erdogan’s time in office, when FETÖ (Fethullahçı Terör Örgütü) was part of a common anti-Kemalist strategy. But these steps and strategies were conceived in order to “free political society of Turkey from the tutelage of the Kemalist army”, to free it from the tutelage of Deep State, more precisely. 

Why  were Erdogan and gülenists once opposed to the Kemalists of the Deep State? Because of a struggle for a return to pre-Kemalist identity including Ottoman identity, the return to the Islamic roots of Turkish society with a strong political party and a strong charismatic leader... It was a kind of right wing religious populism. And this idea presumed that politicians sharing these politics and accepting this identity should enter into a kind of mortal struggle against the previous guardians of Turkish identity, against the Deep State. At this point, FETÖ and Ergodan worked together, trying to diminish or destroy the Derin Devlet. In the case of the previous coup attempt against Erdogan, this was the likely explanation. That is why the FETÖ judges were almost the exact same people who acted as judges for the Ergonikon Kemalist group.

But what was the reason for the split between the terrorist FETÖ organization, completely controlled by CIA and United States (representatives of Parallel State) and Erdogan? I don`t know the political or economical details, but from an external point of view I've noted a very important difference between the two. Erdogan was clearly a Turkish national sovereign leader. He tried to overcome and liberate Turkish politics from the tutelage of the Deep State in order to make Turkey greater, to make Turkish society more powerful, more sovereign, more free. FETÖ was a kind of simulacrum, a dark shadow of Erdogan`s politics. Their project was more or less the same – fighting the Kemalists, but at the same time they tried to impose their own sectarian identity, promoting their own charismatic leader Fethullah Gülen (who was naturally not living in Turkey but in United States), broadening their network, destroying the order of Deep State and installing the Parallel State in its place. 

At this point Erdogan made an existential decision. He didn`t want to follow the path of the parallel state, because at heart he is a real son of Turkish nation. And so he began the struggle against Shadow politics, he began to fight against his owndark double. This resulted in a revolt of the Parallel State against Erdogan. It wasn’t classic coup d`etat, because the real Kemalist core of the Turkish army was not involved in the conflict. During the Ergenekon purges the possibility arose to install a pro-gülenist and pro-CIA group inside the army. So the coup d`etat of July 15<sup>th</sup>  wasn`t Kemalist, it was in fact completely American and deeply anti-Kemalist. FETÖ tried to establish control over the country, but not in order to rule it as Erdogan wanted, but in order to destroy it and sell it to their American CIA masters. That is the main difference. When FETÖ saw that they couldn't achieve their goal working with Erdogan, they tried to organize the coup d`etat. That is how the situation looks like from outside.

And here we must turn to geopolitics. We need to introduce new distinctions into the geopolitical sphere. Today in Trump’s America we see clearly two groups – the globalists and the patriots (nationalists). Trump may look not too sympathetic, but he represents a national administration. Gülen, on other hand, was part of a globalist strategy. The Globalists need to destroy everything that strengthens Eurasianism and multipolarity. They insist that there is only one system of values – those of the  liberal West, and that these values should be accepted universally, by every nation on earth. You have tobe liberal, you have no choice. If you are not liberal or not liberal enough for their taste, they will bomb you, organize regime change operations and punish you at their will. If you are not unconditionally under their power, you will be treated as enemy of the open society and dealt with accordingly. 

When Erdogan first showed signs of developing a good connection with Russia, defending national sovereignty and not willing to be controlled by the globalist sect, the globalists decided to destroy him. 

The downing of the Russian plane was not Turkey’s decision – this action was organized by FETÖ in order to destroy the agreement between Mr. Putin and Mr. Erdogan concerning Syria. What is happening in Syria now? Russia let the Turkish army enter, and as far as I know, this was planned before (!) the downing of Russian plane in the fall of 2015. Putin was furious not because the plane was shot down, but because of the feeling of being betrayed by his Turkish ally. He saw the action as incomprehensible and irresponsible and that this was Erdogan`s personal decision– and this is afterhaving made the agreement regarding Syria. This was a terrible moment. 

Later an unofficial delegation of Kemalist military leaders close to the Vatan party of Doğu Perinçek was sent to Russia. While in Moscow, this group claimed that there was a conspiracy against Erdogan being organized by CIA-groups and FETÖ. They also suggested that Russia should take Erdogan`s side and end the current confrontation. When I came to Turkey in March of 2016, I met people close to Mr. Erdogan (including leader of Turkish Eurasian Movement Hassan Cengiz and other important people), and they confirmed the information that the Parallel Devlet is growing in strength, that it was behind the downing of Russian plane and that they are preparing a new coup. One of their main goals is to destroy the Eurasian alliance between Russia and Turkey. We were trying to preserve our good relations, to avoid war, and at that very moment the gülenist sect came to the center of our mutual relations. 

In Russia, we already long ago shut down and prohibited the gülenist groups, and at first Erdogan protested our actions. But Russian special services saw clearly that the group was an Atlantisist (globalist) instrument working against Russian national interests. We had no choice but to prohibit such a dangerous organization.

After Erdogan apologized for downing the plane, the situation became totally clear – these were not only diplomatic words, they were a clear sign to everybody – we are going to reestablish a Eurasianist Moscow-Ankara geopolitical axis.

I was in Turkey again on the 15th of July, 2016. I visited the mayor of Ankara in his office, and one hour later a group of putschists arrived. During this meeting discussed precisely the Parallel Devlet and its growing opposition to Erdogan. 

On July 15th I was on Turkish TV a few hours before the coup started, and I told the Turkish public that something was going to happen, because the Atlantisists (globalists) would absolutely respond to the refoundation of our strategic partnership – of course I didn’t know it would happen so soon, let alone before I left Turkey. Before I knew it I was in the airport encircled by putschists. Perhaps they were waiting for Erdogan’s plane. Flights were cancelled, it was a dangerous moment – I did everything I could in order to support Mr. Erdogan. Putin only had confidence in Russian patriots – everybody with serious commercial interests in Turkey were cast out, Putin wouldn’t listen to them at all, he considered national interests to be much more important than economic gains or losses. Our positive understanding of Russian-Turkish relations is based on the calculations of Russian national geopolitical interests and on Eurasian strategy – something other than pure economy. Certainly Putin had all the necessary information gathered from intelligence or through other channels… but the most important thing is not information - the most important thing is interpretation of information. In light of FETÖ’s role in the geopolitical struggle against Eurasia we provided our government with all the pieces of this geopolitical puzzle (the downing of the plane and later – the coup).

The coup was defeated by the Eurasianists, by Erdogan, by the Turkish people, and by the military (Kemalist) circles who refused to participate, choosing to support Erdogan instead of the Parallel Devlet.  The Turkish people saved Turkey. They were the real heroes on July 15th.
            There was one more desperate attempt to destroy this Eurasian axis - the murder of our ambassador Mr. Karlov. But if you notice, this didn`t provoke an acute reaction from Moscow, because it was not considered as the treason of betrayal of friendship (as it had been in the first stage of the plane crisis) but just an episode in  the war between the Eurasianists (Turkey and Russia) and Atlantisists (FETÖ and other networks of enemies). In the course of common actions to save Syria from destruction, we are developing a deeper and deeper strategic partnership – Erdogan’s Turkey and Putin’s Russia.  I would like to thank our Azeri friends and the president of Azerbaijan Mr. Aliyev who played a very important role in saving Russian-Turkish relations, and to stress the role of Azerbaijan as a strategic partner of Russia and Turkey. That was very important for us, and we are very grateful for his support in maintaining positive relations and being part of the Eurasian Slavic-Turkish alliance. 

To conclude this speech, I would like to say that after the elections there is only one future path for Turkey –a Eurasian path, which is the true Turkish path, and signals the return to Turkish greatness. That doesn’t mean only an alliance with Russia – Eurasianism is the identity of Turkish people, that is partly European, but also partly traditional, conservative, religious and Asiatic. It is precisely the same with us – we have a lot in common. 

As the French globalist philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy pointed out in Amsterdam recently (2017 during Nexus Institute conference), today we are seeing a reemergence of the three traditional Empires – Russian, Persian and Turkish (Ottoman). Bernard-Henri Levy blamed Russia for letting this happen, because for globalists it means the end of hegemony. We should learn lessons from the past – our three Empires fought against each other, but who was the winner? The West. So, Turkish-Russian war - never more. We are good fighters, we have proven that – but now we need to be good strategists. It is time to develop a strategy to win, so we need to focus more on soft power, on intellectual power.

A strategically oriented Eurasianist Russian-Turkish geopolitical alliance is the future for Turkey, and the ideological confirmation of the great political victory that Erdogan has achieved. He has proved victorious in the politicalchallenge – now, I think, he will need confront the ideologicalchallenge. Mr. Erdogan should propose to the Turkish people a new ideological way, a new vision of Turkish identity based on its eternal roots and restoring the greatness of Your beautiful people. Erdogan has proven that he is the true Turkish leader and has defeated, in mortal combat, his own shadow – the Parallel State of FETÖ. But now the challenge is different. He has won the present, and now he has to win the future. However, this is impossible for one man, even surrounded with good friends and advisers. You need Russia and other Eurasianist countries help your in order to create this future. It is impossible to do everything on your own– you need our help, you need collective Eurasianist intellectual efforts.

That is the challenge for all of us - first of all for you, for the intellectual elite of Turkey -- to create and propose this future for your people and for all of us.