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Failed Coup in Turkey Will 'Weaken' NATO in the Middle East

© REUTERS / Murad SezerPolicemen stand atop military armored vehicles after troops involved in the coup surrendered on the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey July 16, 2016.
Policemen stand atop military armored vehicles after troops involved in the coup surrendered on the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey July 16, 2016. - Sputnik International
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Turkey has been rocked by a failed attempt to forcefully remove President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from power and the subsequent purges in the armed forces, the judiciary, law enforcement, education etc., which have made the country weaker and have also adversely affected NATO's capabilities in the region, security analyst Gerd Portugall asserted.

"Volatility in Turkey means that NATO's anchor of stability in the region has weakened. In other words, the alliance will also become weaker in the region," he told Deutsche Welle.

General Sir Richard Shirreff, who served as the bloc's Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe from 2011 to 2014, expressed similar sentiments in the days following July 16. "Sadly, not only will Turkey be weakened by the failed coup, which saw soldiers firing on other soldiers, but NATO as a whole will be weakened – at least in the short term," he said.

In this July 16, 2016, file photo, tanks move into position as Turkish people attempt to stop them in Ankara, Turkey - Sputnik International
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Like Shirreff, Portugall maintained that this trend could be reverted in the future. "I don't think that NATO's southern flank has been completely destroyed. This is a terrible shock, but the situation will become better and stabilize in the medium term," he said.

On July 16, a group of mid-level military officers staged a coup, but failed to seize the power. Erdogan and his supporters have blamed influential US-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen for the events, launching a major crackdown that has left more than 60,000 military personnel, police officers, judges, civil servants and teachers fired, suspended or detained.

The crackdown presents at least a short-term challenge for Turkey, Portugall noted.

"If you remove military commanders, many in law enforcement and the judiciary, as well as scholars and teachers, at first there will be no one to replace them. This implies that certain institutions will not be as efficient as they used to be," he said.

On the other hand, Ankara has the second largest military in the alliance. As a result, "for any fired general there is a colonel ready for a promotion," the analyst observed.

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