Why the attempted coup in Turkey was good for the region

The attempted coup in Turkey has been seen largely negative in the Western Media. On the one hand, the Western Media shames the attempted coup as a war on democracy. On the other hand, Erdogan's brutal crackdown on those responsible for the coup is also seen as undemocratic and pushing Erdogan closer to dictatorship.

This is all rubbish.

The Western Media is not even news - it's propaganda. Erdogan's previous election was undemocratic. If one were to examine the polls before the Turkish election and what transpired during the election - mass power outs blamed on a cat, for example - it is obvious to see that Erdogan won as a dictator would: through rigging the election in his favour.

But the second point, in seeing the attempted coup as unhelpful for democracy is nullified by the point I made before: Erdogan is no longer the democratically elected ruler. An attempted military coup against him hardly makes him more democratic when he rigged the previous election in his favour.

But the attempted coup in Turkey has had a profound impact on Turkish foreign policy. Before, Erdogan vehemently supported the overthrow of Bashar Al-Assad, and when Russia entered the conflict, Turkey shot down two of Russia planes and caused Russian casualties. Putin implemented harsh measures on Turkey, cutting all trade between the two nations and focusing even more on defeating the Syrian rebels.

The result of this was that Turkey ended up isolated, economically worse for wear, and prone to attacks from Kurdish militia and from ISIS. The result was the attempted coup.

Now, Erdogan's foreign policy has changed dramatically. Wanting to repair ties with Russia, Turkey decided to pursue new objectives:

1) end the Syrian Civil War with an Assad victory, and
2) end the dominance of the Kurds and ISIS in Syria.

This means that both Syria and Russia are likely to turn a blind eye to Turkey waging war on the Syrian Kurds. When the Syrian Civil War ends, Turkey will punish the Kurds and end their autonomy in Syria gained through Obama's ISIS policy.

While Turks killing Kurds is regrettable, it is better than the alternative of continued aggression against the sovereign nation Syria. Thanks to Turkey and Russia, the majority of the Syrian conflict is about to reach a stable and peaceful end.