US Secretary of State John Kerry, right, and Luxembourg Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean Asselborn pay tribute to the victims of the July 14 attack in Nice at the Monument of Remembrance in Luxembourg on July 16, 2016. (AFP Photo/Thierry Monasse)
LUXEMBOURG — US Secretary of State John Kerry said Saturday that Washington had had no idea that a coup attempt was brewing in NATO ally Turkey before Friday’s bloody events.
But he added that the failed putsch had apparently been incompetently executed, and restated Washington’s support for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s elected government.
“If you’re planning a coup you don’t exactly advertise it to your partners in NATO,” Kerry told reporters who asked how US intelligence could have been surprised by events.
“It surprised everybody, including the people in Turkey,” the top US diplomat added, speaking in Luxembourg during a diplomatic tour of European capitals.
People take to the street in support of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan July 16, 2016 in Antalya, Turkey. (Chris McGrath/Getty Images/AFP)
“I must say, it does not appear to have been a very brilliantly planned or executed event, but let’s reserve all judgment until the facts are in.”
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The United States and Turkey are close military allies within NATO and US war planes targeting the Islamic State group fly out of the major Incirlik air base.
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