US attempting regime change in Turkey and Venezuela

James Petras, author and political commentator, made the remarks when asked to comment on US interference in Turkey and Venezuela.

In an op-end published in The New York Times on Saturday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on Washington to stop unilateralism and start respecting his country and its sovereignty.

"Unless the United States starts respecting Turkey's sovereignty and proves that it understands the dangers that our nation faces, our partnership could be in jeopardy," the Turkish president stated.

Erdogan also warned that Turkey could start looking for new allies if Washington damaged its relations with Ankara.

Relations between Ankara and Washington have sunk to their lowest point in decades over a number of issues, including the detention of American pastor Andrew Brunson on terror-related charges, and the depreciation of the Turkish lira to hit record lows against the dollar.

Meanwhile, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro survived an apparent assassination attempt last week after drones armed with explosives detonated overhead during a speech he was making at a military event.

The Venezuelan president blamed the United States for the attempt, but US National Security Adviser John Bolton denied any US involvement in the failed assassination effort.

‘Washington feels Erdogan is moving out of US orbit’
Professor Petras said that “it’s very clear that the US is very hostile to Turkey’s opening relations with Russia, Iran and expressing some independence on Syria. Washington feels that President Erdogan is moving out of the US orbit, and has raised the issue of religious missionaries that is Turkey and is accused of collaborating with the people in the coup.”

“And I think the US is taking measures to undermine Erdogan and bring about a regime change” he added.

“This is not too different what the Washington is planning on the more regional scale with Venezuela. The US is working with Columbia and other extreme rightwing governments to overthrow the government in Venezuela because it is an anti-imperialist government which has a great deal of oil resources which Washington wants to get its hands on,” he noted.

“So I think in both cases Washington is working towards a regime change to use these as a springboard, in the case of Turkey, to isolate Russia and Iran, and  with Venezuela to undermine its support for Cuba,” the writer concluded.