GOP rep: No one saw Turkey coup coming

Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, said no one saw the attempted military coup in Turkey coming. 

{mosads}Hundreds were reportedly killed, including many civilians, after a faction of the armed forces tried to seize power in Turkey Friday. 

“As far as I know, there was no diplomatic talk; there was no intelligence talk of this coup,” King told radio program host John Catsimatidis on “The Cats Roundtable” Sunday.

“We know many people in the military were dissatisfied and were strongly opposed to President [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan, feeling he had become a virtual dictator, and he had also purged a number of top people in the military. But no one that I’m aware of saw this coup coming.”

King then guessed Erdogan will become “more dictatorial” than ever. 

If the coup had succeeded, it would have put the U.S. in a tough position, he said. 

“As a democracy, we can’t support a military coup against democracy,” King said. 

But, he said, the military leaders who would have come into power “probably would have been more effective in fighting [the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria].” 

“We have to pressure Erdogan to take a firmer position against ISIS. He has basically allowed thousands and thousands of Europeans to go through Turkey into Syria, fight along ISIS, be trained by ISIS, and then come back to Turkey into Europe,” he said.