...“Over the last 67 years and now more so after the coup plot, literally hundreds of general officers have been removed from the system,” says Eric Edelman, who served as the U.S. undersecretary of defense for policy from 2005-09. “Think about the Red Army after the purge trials of the late 1930s and how ineffective that was as a fighting force when Hitler invaded the Soviet Union. No military can go through that kind of leadership turbulence and continue to be capable and effective.”
Because the plot failed, Turkey has not tripped any arms transfer clauses, but Edelman say the West’s military tomilitary relationship with the Turkish armed forces are now on a downward trajectory...