Turkish Cabinet Minister Accuses United States of Being Behind Coup Attempt

Süleyman Soylu, Turkey’s minister of Labor, believes that the United States was the real force behind Friday’s failed coup:

#Erdoğan‘s labor minister @SuleymanSoylu: USA behind the #TurkeyCoupAttempt. https://t.co/eVwhHAinrs … Me: #Ankara wants deeper isolation?

— Daniel Pipes (@DanielPipes) July 16, 2016

This is, of course, pathetic. No person in his right mind believes that the radical leftist President Obama would support a coup against his Islamist pal, President Erdogan.

That doesn’t prevent Soylu from spreading some anti-Americanism, however. And who can blame him? After all, Erdogan’s supporters will eat this up like a hungry bear eats honey.

In the meantime, the Turkish military has surrounded the military base of Incirlik, which is used by the U.S. to carry out strikes against ISIS. As a result, 1500 American military members have now been basically taken hostage: they can’t leave the base. Oh, and the base’s electricity has been cut.

Sounds bad enough? Well, it gets even worse:

INCIRLIK AIR BASE, TURKEY

– Used by Turkey, US and NATO
– Key in anti-ISIS campaign
– Houses 90 nuclear weapons pic.twitter.com/P5qKj8EQzw

— The Int’l Spectator (@intlspectator) July 16, 2016

Oh yeah. No problem at all, folks.

#Erdogan: “US have to give us #Gulen if we are to cooperate together.” In meantime, 1,500 Americans at #Incirlik can’t go in, out or fly.

— Jon Williams (@WilliamsJon) July 16, 2016

To top it all off, the Turkish government is now basically blackmailing Washington, D.C.: Ankara is demanding that the U.S. hand over Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gulen, who resides in Pennsylvania. If America does not acquiesce…well, let’s just say Ankara wants to convince D.C. not to even contemplate that possibility.

The main question is now: will the Obama White House continue to accept Erdogan’s antics or will they finally make it clear to him that America, not Turkey, is the world’s only superpower?