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As the one year anniversary of last summers coup attempt in Turkey nears, many problems remain with the narrative of events put forward by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Turkish media which he tightly controls. Among the most important questions yet unanswered, however, revolves around the activities of SADAT, a private paramilitary group which emerged from the shadows on the evening of the coup: Eyewitnesses say SADAT members fired into crowds and Turkish military officers suspect SADAT snipers to be responsible for at least some of the casualties that occurred on the trans-Bosporus bridge.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan greets members of parliament from his ruling AK Party during a meeting at the Turkish parliament in Ankara, Turkey, May 30, 2017. REUTERS/Umit Bektas.

Adnan Tanriverdi, a former general dismissed for his Islamist leanings after the 1997 coup, founded SADAT in 2012. After the coup, Erdogan brought Tanriverdi into his office as chief military counselor. Thanks to a rule change made at Erdogans direction, many Islamists dismissed from the military who found refuge in SADAT subsequently re-joined the military with retroactive credit for promotions they did not receive in the military because of early termination.

That I have written about Tanriverdi and SADAT sporadically over the past year is a reflection of the degree to which they are a conversation among current, retired, and purged Turkish military officers; eyewitnesses who say SADAT was firing indiscriminately at civilians during the coup; NATO defense attaches stationed in Turkey; as well as officials stationed at the NATO headquarters in Brussels. The conclusion is the same: SADAT appears increasingly to act as Erdogans personal militia or a Turkish equivalent of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

SADAT should raise eyebrows. Its website says it both provides conventional and unconventional military training and can supply weapons, explosives, and other equipment to its clients, but it appears to do much more than that. Even inside Turkey, suspicions about the group run deep. Ali Riza Ozturk, for example, a member of parliament from the center-left Republican Peoples Party (CHP), officially queried the Turkish government about SADATs involvement in training and equipping extremist and terror groups including the Islamic State (ISIS, ISIL, Daesh) in Syria. Ozturk also asked whether the governments refusal to allow members of parliament to inspect a camp in the Hatay province was related to SADATs presence and training in that camp. The government did not respond substantively to the question, and has even removed the transcript of Ozturks questioning from the record.

Turkish officers and counterterror officials also raise concern about SADATs recruitment and training in Central Asia and Europe. Prior to Russias recent rapprochement with Turkey, the Russian government included SADAT in a report to the United Nations about Erdogan and his familys support for terror organizations in Syria. Turkish analysts also believe SADAT aids both in recruitment in Chechnya, Tajikistan, and Kazakhstan for Syrias most radical Sunni Islamist groups, and the transfer through Turkey of those recruits. Indeed, when in 2015 Russia investigated nearly 900 people traveling to fight in Syria and Iraq, Russian authorities found that 25 percent had connections to SADAT. Nor is the problem one rogue group operating under the radar. According to fighters captured by Russian security forces as they sought to return to Russia, Turkish consulates in Russia evidently provided Turkish passports for the fighters from the Caucasus trained by SADAT to fight with the Islamic State and Al Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front.

Perhaps the Russian penchant for fiction masquerading as news disqualifies Russian-sourced investigations, but in this case the Russian conclusions coincide with those of European counter-terror authorities. In Europe, many politicians assume online recruiting is the main mechanism by which young Europeans radicalize and volunteer to fight for the Islamic State but, increasingly, it appears that SADAT might be engaging in a more low-tech approach. Reportedly utilizing the assistance of the Union of European Turkish Democrats (UETD), a pro-Erdogan lobby group, SADAT has identified and recruited a number of European national foreign fighters for terror groups like the Islamic State and Nusra Front. Again, the Turkish government appears more deeply involved as SADAT apparently enabled nationals from Germany, Austria, Belgium, France, and Sweden to acquire current Turkish passports.

On March 22, 2017, Erdogan declared, Europeans across the world will not be able to walk the streets safely if they keep up their current attitude towardsTurkey. Later that day, a terrorist mowed down several tourists in front of the British parliament. That was likely coincidence, but recent kidnappings of Turkish dissidents in Malaysia, Turkish spy rings in Europe, self-described Turkish civil society organizations in the United States reporting on dissidents and opponents, and the recent assault on protesters in Washington, DC, should all raise concerns about what Erdogan and his proxy organizations and militias are up to, for they are certainly escalating.

It is clear that SADAT follows and enforces Erdogans agenda without the constraints of being a government entity.

It is clear that SADAT follows and enforces Erdogans agenda without the constraints of being a government entity. Such a conclusion makes sense not only because of circumstantial evidence, but rather because Erdogan has made SADATs leader one of his top aides on par with if not more influential than the commander of the Turkish General Staff. Certainly, this raises questions about their activities in the run-up and during the coup, but it should also raise questions about Turkeys growing role as a terror sponsor. It seems that Erdogan envisions SADAT in the same way that the supreme leader of Iran views the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, as a force to ensure political loyalty at home and as a means to conduct terrorism abroad while maintaining plausible deniability in order to avoid accountability as much as possible for its actions, blaming them on rogue elements when necessary.

Despite Erdogans bluster and bombast, Turkey is weak. Erdogan risks presiding not over a great Ottoman resurgence, but rather Turkeys collapse. Against this backdrop, he is pursuing the strategy of the weakutilizing terrorism in pursuit of ideological goals and to kneecap those who stand in the way of further power or wealth consolidation. Its all well and good for NATO officials to talk about Turkeys military with all the diplomatic niceties of decades past but, alas, the face of Turkish power today is increasingly SADAT rather than the Turkish army.

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Has SADAT become Erdogan's Revolutionary Guards? AEI ... - American Enterprise Institute

all institutions that allowed them to make it to the highest officer in the first place. Dictators use their international trips to bathe themselves in false legitimacy (by posing shaking hands with democratic leaders) and at the same time try to demoralize democrats back home.

FP: What were the reactions to that ad?

Javier El-Hage: Except for a few twitter messages by Erdogan supporters telling us not to insult the Turkish president, the response on Twitter, email and elsewhere was overwhelmingly positive. The majority of people in democracies, jointly with the thousands of Turkish citizens that have been persecuted by Erdogans regime, agree with us, so their retweets and words of support after seeing the campaign were very loud and significant for us.

FP: What do you think about President Trumps decision to visit, in the span of a very short time, three countries that are the biggest prisons for journalists (Egypt, China and Turkey)?

Javier El-Hage: Unfortunately, President Trump isnt an outlier on this. Except for exceptional international leaders like the Venezuelan president Romulo Betancourt in the 1960s (who broke diplomatic relations with Francos Spain, Trujillos Dominican Republic, Castros Cuba and others) this type of engagement with dictators (for reasons of national security, economic interest, or simply diplomatic kindness) has long been par of the course in the international relations of even the worlds longest and strongest democracies. We want to change this.

Although we think the downfall of severing diplomatic ties with dictators would be much less consequential than many intellectuals in democracies tend to believe, we do not necessarily advocate for this policy from the outset. However, it is key that democrats ask difficult questions to their dictatorial counterparts and afford respect for those persecuted under their regimes, since otherwise the anti-democratic world order that dictators tend to promote will come back to bite them anyway.

The Trump administration could lead on this front, but, after his visits with Erdogan and several Middle Eastern dictators, we are not holding our breaths. Still, we are fortunate to operate from a democratic country, so as part of this countrys free civil society we will continue to exercise our right to freedom of expression and call on democratic leaders to be tough on dictators, even as we know that this makes democratic leaders uncomfortable (perhaps more so than dictators, who are accustomed to simply crush dissent).

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Javier El-Hage about the message to Erdogan published in The Washington Times: Dictators should never be simply ... - Fairpress (blog)

ANKARA Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said the European Union had presented Turkey with a new 12-month timetable for renewing their relations, the Hurriyet daily said on Saturday.

Speaking to reporters on the return flight from this week's NATO summit in Brussels, Erdogan was cited by Hurriyet as saying that during the summit, Turkey and the EU had agreed on giving a new impetus to relations and added Turkey's foreign and EU affairs ministries would work towards the timetable.

Turkey's relations with the European Union, particularly Germany, have deteriorated sharply after a series of diplomatic rows.

Erdogan was quoted as saying he had put the issue of the visa liberalization on the agenda during meetings with EU officials, and that Turkish and EU officials would work together on the issue.

Turkey agreed in early 2016 to help curb a flood of migrants into Europe in return for visa-free travel for Turks to Europe and 3 billion euros ($3.35 billion) in EU financial aid. But Brussels first wants Ankara to modify anti-terrorism laws that it says are too broad.

Most recently, Turkey has expressed anger that Germany is granting asylum to Turks, more than 400 of them with diplomatic passports and government working permits, accused of participating in a failed coup in July. The failed putsch prompted a purge of the Turkish military, judiciary and civil service.

Western countries have criticized Turkey for what they say is the heavy-handed nature of the clamp-down following the coup attempt, and for the behavior of Turkish politicians while visiting their countries.

Turkey this month blocked German lawmakers from visiting the troops at Turkey's Incirlik air base, prompting Berlin to say it may consider moving the troops. Some 250 German troops are stationed at Incirlik, where they contribute to the U.S.-led fight against Islamic State.

Erdogan said Turkey would say "goodbye" if Germany decided to withdraw its troops from Incirlik, adding Ankara had not received any sign from Berlin on the possible withdrawal of troops stationed at the base in southern Turkey.

At their meeting in Brussels, Erdogan told German Chancellor Angela Merkel that a parliamentary delegation would be allowed to visit Incirlik if the German foreign minister presented a list of names to Turkey beforehand.

"There can be some among German lawmakers who openly support terrorists," Erdogan was quoted as saying.

The row has placed Europe in an awkward position with Turkey, which has seen its decades-old bid to join the bloc move at snail's pace due to concerns over its human rights record, ethnically-split Cyprus, and reluctance among some European countries to admit a largely Muslim nation.

Erdogan has suggested Turkey could hold a referendum on continuing EU accession talks, and possibly another on reinstating the death penalty. Restoring capital punishment, which Turkey abolished over a decade ago, would all but end Turkey's bid to join the EU.

(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Toby Chopra)

BERLIN German Chancellor Angela Merkel underlined her doubts about the reliability of the United States as an ally on Monday but said she was a "convinced trans-Atlanticist", fine-tuning her message after surprising Washington with her frankness a day earlier.

WASHINGTON The Trump administration is nearing completion of a policy review to determine how far it goes in rolling back former President Barack Obamas engagement with Cuba and could make an announcement next month, according to current and former U.S. officials and people familiar with the discussions.

BAGHDAD Two car bombs killed at least 20 people in Baghdad and wounded about 80 others early on Tuesday, security sources said, one targeting the late-night crowds typical of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan who shop and eat ahead of the next day's fast.

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Erdogan says EU presented Turkey with new 12-month diplomatic ...

ANKARA Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said the European Union had presented Turkey with a new 12-month timetable for renewing their relations, the Hurriyet daily said on Saturday.

Speaking to reporters on the return flight from this week's NATO summit in Brussels, Erdogan was cited by Hurriyet as saying that during the summit, Turkey and the EU had agreed on giving a new impetus to relations and added Turkey's foreign and EU affairs ministries would work towards the timetable.

Turkey's relations with the European Union, particularly Germany, have deteriorated sharply after a series of diplomatic rows.

Erdogan was quoted as saying he had put the issue of the visa liberalization on the agenda during meetings with EU officials, and that Turkish and EU officials would work together on the issue.

Turkey agreed in early 2016 to help curb a flood of migrants into Europe in return for visa-free travel for Turks to Europe and 3 billion euros ($3.35 billion) in EU financial aid. But Brussels first wants Ankara to modify anti-terrorism laws that it says are too broad.

Most recently, Turkey has expressed anger that Germany is granting asylum to Turks, more than 400 of them with diplomatic passports and government working permits, accused of participating in a failed coup in July. The failed putsch prompted a purge of the Turkish military, judiciary and civil service.

Western countries have criticized Turkey for what they say is the heavy-handed nature of the clamp-down following the coup attempt, and for the behavior of Turkish politicians while visiting their countries.

Turkey this month blocked German lawmakers from visiting the troops at Turkey's Incirlik air base, prompting Berlin to say it may consider moving the troops. Some 250 German troops are stationed at Incirlik, where they contribute to the U.S.-led fight against Islamic State.

Erdogan said Turkey would say "goodbye" if Germany decided to withdraw its troops from Incirlik, adding Ankara had not received any sign from Berlin on the possible withdrawal of troops stationed at the base in southern Turkey.

At their meeting in Brussels, Erdogan told German Chancellor Angela Merkel that a parliamentary delegation would be allowed to visit Incirlik if the German foreign minister presented a list of names to Turkey beforehand.

"There can be some among German lawmakers who openly support terrorists," Erdogan was quoted as saying.

The row has placed Europe in an awkward position with Turkey, which has seen its decades-old bid to join the bloc move at snail's pace due to concerns over its human rights record, ethnically-split Cyprus, and reluctance among some European countries to admit a largely Muslim nation.

Erdogan has suggested Turkey could hold a referendum on continuing EU accession talks, and possibly another on reinstating the death penalty. Restoring capital punishment, which Turkey abolished over a decade ago, would all but end Turkey's bid to join the EU.

(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Toby Chopra)

MANCHESTER, England Members of Manchester suicide bomber Salman Abedi's network are still potentially at large, British interior minister Amber Rudd said on Sunday, after the terrorism threat level was lowered due to significant progress in the investigation.

BERLIN Germany, whose relations with Turkey have been strained by a series of rows, will decide within two weeks whether to withdraw troops deployed at Turkey's Incirlik air force base, a German Foreign Ministry official said on Sunday.

MILAN Former prime minister Matteo Renzi suggested on Sunday that Italy's next election be held at the same time as Germany's, saying this made sense "from a European perspective".

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Erdogan says EU presented Turkey with new 12-month diplomatic timetable: Hurriyet - Reuters

Undoubtedly a cruel authoritarian with a badly trimmed moustache, a forehead wider than all of Anatolia, and a vague resemblance to Gollum from The Lord of the Rings, Erdoan, the President of Turkey, is slowly dragging his own country through the dirt. That is, more acutely worded, Erdoan, a man who will never be the man his mother is, whose status as a lazy canine animal is located somewhere in the middle of his name, is turning the wonderful nation of Turkey inside out, and crushing the ones who are trying to stop him.

Given that I am no Jan Bhmermann, a German satirist whose mocking of the Turkish President faced direct criticism from Chancellor Merkel at the behest of Erdoan, I will move onto discussing exactly why Erdoan is the slime of Turkey. Last week, a video shot in front of the Turkish American embassy showed US police struggling to protect protesters, and two Turkish bodyguards being briefly detained after an incident in which they violently assaulted protesters. A few days later, a much more revealing video showed clearly Erdoan mouthing orders for the assault to one of his henchman out of his car, who then passed it down the line and engaged in the quelling seconds later.

That incident wasnt the first during an Erdoan visit. Last year a fight erupted outside a nuclear security summit in Washington attended by Erdoan. Since then, American senators have threatened lawsuits if the bodyguards responsible were not properly prosecuted. In a nation where as many as 800 families of the deceased from September 11 pursued lawsuits against the entire nation of Saudi Arabia, such a threat should not be taken lightly. In addition, Lindsey Graham threatened potential implications for assistance to Turkey if the bodyguards were not properly prosecuted. In the event, the two detained were set free and returned to Turkey. The behaviour of Erdoans thugs directly, and quite obviously, breach American laws protecting free speech and the right to assemble.

Instead of delivering a rationally formed apology, the Turkish response has been, instead, to employ a strange gaslighting policy, similar to a physically abusive husband accused of domestic violence. Instead of apologising for what even an infant could make out to be an ordered attack, Turkey summoned the American ambassador on Monday to protest what it called aggressive and unprofessional actions by American security personnel. Turkey didnt specify the actions by US security officials it deemed inappropriate. The statement was interpreted as a much needed reaction to the public and national reaction of the videos spreading online, but was horribly done and thus merely resulted in another wave of criticism.

Related Human rights, not financial gain

Turkeys reputation is being destroyed slowly but surely by Erdoan. The country has long been considered by some to be part of Europe, given its geographical location in Eastern Thrace and continental Europe. Formerly known under the auspices of the Ottoman Empire as The Sick Man of Europe, it was a man of Europe none the less. Turkey was one of the fi rst members of the Council of Europe in 1949, and its current position as a member of NATO has marked it as one of the few nations that was at once part of the western and middle eastern international community. Turkeys ability to avoid being partitioned among western powers and to form its own sovereign nation on its own terms, unlike the rest of the Middle East, was not only admirable, but marked a future of social and economic progression. Guided by the policies of Ataturk, Turkey joined the international community gracefully. Now, while the attacks on protesters by Erdogans thugs might seem like an isolated incident, the perception of Turkey in the international community is shifting, to a country that is determined to shut down and eliminate freedom of speech within its borders. Leaders like Erdogan panhandle the idea of an obtusely strong executive, exclaiming admiration for absolutist dictators of the past.

Remember this is a man who, at a televised press conference, stated that he believed a presidential system was possible in a unitary state, and cited Nazi Germany as an empirical example for his proposition. And where are we now? Last month the disastrous constitutional referendum, which faced electoral fraud of astounding proportions, cemented Erdoans iron grip and established the presidential system that he was daydreaming about in the press conference. I often urge people to avoid sliding into marking everything they disagree with as literally Hitler. But one should often how far the comparison is required to go until a logical equivalence is actually reached, as Erdoan continues to actively deny the Armenian genocide, censor and jail journalists en masse, and violently crack down on opposition movements.

Related Should subfusc remain compulsory?

Unfortunately, Erdoans influence in Turkey has its very real effects on the West, not just by nature of geographical proximity, but also by a disturbing cultural effect. There is an increasing fetishisation of autocrats like Erdoan and Putin in the West, which is reflected in a growing support for power consolidating bureaucrats masquerading as benevolent dictators. In Hilary Term, the former 13-year editor of The Economist, Bill Emmott, delivered a speech on his new book, The Fate of the West, in which he discussed a number of issues facing western democracies, and democracy in general. He mused on the toxic combination of self-proclaimed admiration for leaders like Putin by western politicians, and the simultaneous McCarthyist fear mongering of the Russian state. When Erdoan was questioned about the previous comment he made in admiration of the Third Reich, he stated that he was simply admiring the strong executive of the Nazi regime. So, in this country, when the words strong and stable seem to have such great effect, we should only naturally be disturbed.

Erdoan is coming very close to single-handedly destroying the legacy of Ataturk and the status of a secular and democratic Turkey. Sozcu, a Turkish opposition newspaper and staunch supporter of the legacy of Ataturk, published their most recent issue completely blank, citing a mixture of protest and a genuine inability to publish more material following the recent arrest. Various websites continue to face censorship, while according to the highly respected organization Reporters Without Borders it is not China, but Turkey, that is the worlds biggest prison for journalists. To this degree, I stand firmly for the freedom of expression of Turkish journalists, and violently condemn the actions of the slime of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoan.

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Recep Tayyip Erdoan, the slime of Turkey - Cherwell Online