In this study, Turkey’s reaction to the ousting of Mohammed Morsi in Egypt is studied in comparison with one regional and one global actor with a democratic regime. This study aimed to examine the dynamics of Turkey over-signalling negatively to the coup in comparison with Israeli and American reactions. In comparison with Turkey’s reaction, the US shyly signalled positively in statements and used financial means against the coup hesitantly. Israel pursued a ‘strategic silence’ approach and eschewed signalling at all. It is seen that all three countries’ motivations were dominantly material, and no country reacted with purely normative motivations. The US and Turkey applied a selective normative approach according to their material motivations. While Turkey focused on the illegitimacy of the coup, the US focused on the illiberal policies of Morsi whereas Israel openly avoided adopting a normative approach. © 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.