Ambassador Richard Moore used the suppression of the 2016 military coup to subordinate Turkish intelligence services and the armed forces to British interests. (Video version of the article. Download in Word format.)

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Modern Turkey was born in the 1920s as a result of the reforms of Kemal Ataturk. His policies, known as “Kemalism”, was aimed at modernizing the country and was based on six principles: republicanism, national state, nationality, secularism, state regulation and westernization. The guarantor of maintaining Ataturk’s course was the Turkish army.

Since the main obstacle to the subordination of Turkey to British interests were the Kemalists in the Turkish army and intelligence services, they became the target of Richard Moore’s attack.

The British intelligence services’ chief Turkologist and fluent Turkish speaker, Richard Moore began his career in Turkey as an MI6 resident from 1989 to 1992. In 2014, he was appointed British Ambassador to Turkey.

In pursuing his goal, Moore played on Erdogan’s ambitions for authoritarianism, Islamization and the expansion of Turkish influence in the territories encompassing the Great Turan – the Turkic belt, from Syria to the Volga region and China’s Xinjiang.

Richard Moore was helped to achieve his goal by the attempted military coup in Turkey on July 15, 2016. The suppression of the coup, accompanied by numerous human rights violations, worsened Turkey’s relations with the US and the EU and led to Erdogan’s international isolation. It was at this point that Richard Moore took advantage of the political instability to become a trusted confidant of the Turkish president. As Turkish journalist Omer Guler notes:

“In the midst of the general alienation, Britain has emerged as one of Erdogan’s strongest allies. Richard Moore was the only Western ambassador who was quick to back Erdogan’s version of the coup, and the British government turned a blind eye to Turkey’s serious human rights abuses since the coup was crushed.” [1]

According to Evgeny Gilbo, the failed coup was provoked by Moore with the help of Fethullah Gulen’s opposition group. The purges in the Turkish army and intelligence services that followed the suppression of the coup allowed Moore to replace the Kemalists with people loyal to Great Britain and effectively subjugate the country’s security agencies. [2]

It appears that Gilbo’s version is close to the truth, because the following year, 2017, Richard Moore was awarded the Order of St Michael and St George for services to relations between Great Britain and Turkey. [3]

The result of Turkey becoming a British proxy

By turning Turkey into a British proxy, Richard Moore concentrated in his hands a huge influence that extended over almost all of Asia. Turkey, Qatar, the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas provided influence in the Middle East, while Turkic subversive groups opened up the roads to the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Volga region, Siberia and China for Britain.

Evgeny Gilbo notes:

“During his time as ambassador to Turkey (2014-2017), Moore effectively subjugated the country’s intelligence services. He created a network system of sabotage groups promoting the ideas of Great Turan, the Great Ottoman Empire, and Islamism. This network operates across the vast territory of the Turkic belt of Eurasia, from the Uyghur region of China, through the Uzbek regions of Afghanistan, to the Turkmen-populated areas of Syria.

In addition, Moore managed to bring the special services and army of Azerbaijan under his control. Moore’s main strength is the system of special services of the Turkic-speaking states and Turkic-speaking terrorist groups. [4]

Since the appointment of Richard Moore as head of MI6 in 2020, Turkish intelligence has become the main instrument for implementing British policy across much of Asia.

• We saw how they worked in Afghanistan, where they control a significant part of the Afghans. Not very tight control, but this control comes not from Ankara, but from London.

• We saw the situation in Kazakhstan when they tried to carry out a coup and do something similar to Uzbekistan. [5]

• We see a situation in Azerbaijan where, in fact, not only the special services, but also the army are no longer subordinate to the president and are directly controlled by Turkish officers, who, ultimately, report not to Ankara, but directly to Richard Moore.

• The war between Armenia and Azerbaijan that we know of, which ended in a strange game of give-and-take, is explained by the fact that both sides were controlled by London. The current president of Azerbaijan has allowed a situation where his armed forces and special services are controlled from London. [2]

It was Richard Moore, who managed to bring Erdogan and the Turkish military-political elite under control, who is the developer and executor of the policy that is perceived as Erdogan’s policy.

It is not that Erdogan is Moore’s puppet, but rather that Moore is a provider of elegant solutions for Erdogan. Moore’s goal is to use Turkey as an instrument of English policy in Central Asia, Afghanistan and Iran. Of course, this kind of expansion leads to the depletion of Turkey’s resources and its subsequent collapse. But Moore does not care much about this.” [6]

Journalist Pepe Escobar, a specialist in the Middle East and Central Asia, adds detail to the picture of British influence:

“In December 2021, another coup was prevented in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek. Sources in Kyrgyz intelligence claim that several NGOs with ties to the UK and Turkey were involved in its organization.

Tajik political scientist Parviz Mullojanov reports that about 8,000 Salafi jihadists have been transported from Syria and Iraq to northern Afghanistan. These forces form the bulk of ISIS-Khorasan, which has re-emerged near the border with Turkmenistan. Some of these jihadists have been sent to Kyrgyzstan, from where they can easily cross the border into Kazakhstan.

In May 2021, MI6 officer Jonathan Powell met with the leadership of Jabhat al-Nusra, which controls many Central Asian jihadists. The agreement was that the jihadists would not be considered “terrorists” if they followed an anti-Russian agenda. This was one of the key steps that paved the way for the jihadists to be sent to Afghanistan and then to Central Asia.

The origins of this offensive date back to 2020, when former British ambassador to Turkey Richard Moore was appointed head of MI6.

Richard Moore is a rabid Russophobe and a proponent of the Great Turan idea — a fantasy of a confederation of Turkic-speaking peoples from West Asia and the Caucasus to Central Asia and the Russian republics on the Volga. With the exception of Turkmenistan, MI6 has deep roots in all Central Asian countries, skillfully using pan-Turkic rhetoric as a means of countering Russia and China.

Erdogan himself is actively involved in promoting the idea of a Greater Turan, especially after the establishment of the Turkic Council in 2009. Erdogan’s neo-Ottomanism has wide support among the Muslim Brotherhood, although this movement differs significantly from pan-Turkism, which is based on the idea of Turkish dominance.” [5]

Igor I. Isaev, April 2025

References

[1] Omer Guler, “The curious love between the UK and President Erdogan” (July 20, 2020) http://www.institude.org/opinion/the-curious-love-between-the-uk-and-president-erdogan

[2] Evgeny Gilbo, “Anglo-American skirmish” (December 05, 2024) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dH6WCCHqJoU

[3] Wikipedia: Sir Richard Peter Moore. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Moore_(diplomat)#Personal_life

[4] Evgeny Gilbo, “Iran Strategic Prospects” (April 10, 2025) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5p7vz_mDxfs

[5] Pepe Escobar, “After Kazakhstan, the Color Revolution Era is Over” (January 16, 2022) http://orinocotribune.com/after-kazakhstan-the-color-revolution-era-is-over/

[6] Evgeny Gilbo, “The Architect of Turkish Politics” (December 20, 2022) (available for subscribers) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJZiq-8cClc&t=486s