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Expert says mass repressions in Turkey will hardly resolve all problems

An expert says the coup failed because it was poorly organized

MOSCOW, July 18. /TASS/. Mass repressions in Turkey that followed after the foiled coup attempt will hardly help to resolve all issues in both domestic and foreign policy, director of the Institute of Caspian Cooperation Sergey Mikheyev said on Monday.

The coup failed because it was poorly organized, Mikheyev told a roundtable on the consequences of the latest developments in Turkey. "Thousands of people that took to the streets helped (Turkish President Recep Tayyip) Erdogan. And the military, first of all, were not able to clearly state their objectives, secondly, they did not address the people, and thirdly, they failed to mobilize their supporters," the expert said. "This could have worked in the 1960s but today, in the era of mass media, it is very hard to get by without it," he added.

However, the failed coup attempt cannot be described as Erdogan’s victory, Mikheyev continued. "Tactically he saved his power. But in general the coup attempt serves as evidence that Erdogan assumed such a scale of geopolitical games that he was not able to handle," he explained.

"It is unlikely that these problems will disappear and everything will be fine. I think that even if these problems are hidden somewhere deep, they will still continue to accumulate," Mikheyev added.

Erdogan is not ready to resolve these problems, he noted. "The pendulum of repressions will only swing faster and faster in the near future. However, it is hardly possible to resolve all problems that Erdogan faces both inside the country and outside of it, with repressions," he concluded.

A group of insurgents attempted a coup in Turkey overnight to Saturday. Bombs were dropped on the parliament building and the presidential palace in Ankara. The country’s leadership later said that the coup was quashed. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said that the situation is under the control of the official government.

According to latest reports, 290 people died and 1,491 more were injured. Over 6,000 people were arrested after a failed coup attempt.

Turkey will seek normalization of relations with Russia

"In my opinion, (Turkish President Recep Tayyip) Erdogan realized well before the military coup attempt that he aimed too high in his confrontation with Russia," Mikheyev said. "He realized that in a situation when Turkey has rather uneasy relations with US and EU, serious problems in Syria, he just does not need such deep crisis in relations with Russia," he added.

"Turkey needs external points of support now. That’s why Erdogan will try to normalize relations with Russia. It will depend on Moscow how dynamic this process will be," the expert noted.

Russia should not hastily normalize relations with Turkey, Mikheyev said. "I think that even if putschists won, relations between Moscow and Ankara would have developed similarly," he concluded.