Further Balkan Intrigues and Questions

Just a couple of months ago six Turks associated with a Gülen affiliated school were arrested (rendition style) by the Kosovar secret police. They were then extradited to Turkey and are still being held.

The Pristina government sharply denies knowledge or involvement in this affair which suggests a split within the Kosovar governing structure. Largely and even zealously pro-US in their sympathies, the move suggests an emerging and rival Deep State, one perhaps closely tied to Ankara. The genesis of this Deep State may be found through the extensive economic relations between the two countries and/or through Islamist organisations tied between the two countries. It's a signal of pending trouble in an already unstable region.

During Recep Tayyip Erdogan's recent trip to the Balkans, there were rumours of an assassination attempt. He was warned by Balkan intelligence services even as he campaigned for votes among the Turkish expatriate community. Chancellor Angela Merkel's government publically humiliated him in denying him the right to campaign among the several million Turkish and Kurdish expatriates living in Germany.

Erdogan has insisted the 2016 coup attempt was directed by the American based cleric Fethullah Gülen and Western military and intelligence agencies. Divisions over Syria, the Kurds and several other issues have all but forced Erdogan into an antagonistic relationship with NATO, the EU and the United States.

The Western media continues to present all of this as something of a grandiose psy-op, theatre manufactured by Erdogan to solidify his hold on Turkey. Some even believe the coup itself was staged.

And yet others, many of whom are credible insist the coup was real, was directed from (at least in part) the American base at Incirlik and was a plot on the part of the US, what's left of the Turkish Deep State and Gülen affiliates.

The Balkans are presently a place of tension and intrigue and now the idea that Turkish politics are spreading to and affecting the region will make many anxious and uneasy.

I believe it quite plausible that there was an attempt in the works. Bosnia, the location of the potential assassination actually makes sense. It's a world in which Islamists, Salafists, and pro-Western Muslims interact and overlap. It wouldn't be hard to find someone to 'flip', someone to recruit or a cell that would be willing to operate on either the behalf of Salafists or Western intelligence agencies... or both.

It's clear that elements within the Turkish military and Western intelligence want Erdogan gone. Killing him in a place like Bosnia would make it easier to cover tracks. It's a confusing mess of factions and murky connections. The crime would never be solved. In many ways it would be more convenient in a place like Bosnia than in Turkey itself.

It's also interesting that the story got very little to no coverage in the West. That may prove nothing but it could also be rather telling.

Either way, the story fascinates and the many sub-plots are beginning to connect even while the overall narrative continues to grow more complicated.