Erdogan is an Islamic supremacist menace who skillfully manipulates NATO. Turkey has no place in the NATO alliance and should long ago have been thrown out. Erdogan is no friend to Europe; he has assailed it, calling it sick and collapsing, yet pushes the “Islamophobia” subterfuge with the EU, while conveniently never addressing jihad terror.
Erdogan’s aspirations to rule the Islamic world and revive the Ottoman Empire have taken Turkey down a road of rapid Islamization and tyranny. Erdogan has been indoctrinating the next generation by launching “a Sunni-Islamist revival in Turkish schools.”
Greece was recently forced to boost its armed forces amid rising Turkish aggression.
It’s a big mistake to appease jihadist states and their leaders — especially one such as Erdogan.
“NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg admits ‘serious concerns’ over Turkey,” Al Arabiya, March 16, 2021:
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Monday he has “serious concerns” over actions by member state Turkey, but insisted the alliance was an important platform for resolving disputes involving Ankara.
“HI have expressed my serious concerns and we all know there are serious differences and some issues, ranging from the eastern Mediterranean, the Turkish decision to buy the Russian air defense system S-400 or related to democratic rights in Turkey,” Stoltenberg told lawmakers from the European Parliament.
“But I believe NATO at least can provide an important platform for discussing these issues, raising these issues and having serious debates and discussions about different concerns.”
Turkey has drawn the ire of some of its allies in the 30-nation grouping over its stance in a maritime territorial dispute with fellow NATO member Greece and its role in the conflicts in Syria, Libya and Nagorno-Karabakh.
in December, Washington slapped sanctions on Turkey’s military procurement agency over Ankara’s decision to buy the S-400 missile defense system from NATO rival Russia.
New US President Joe Biden has maintained a tough line over the purchase of Russian arms as his administration continues to figure out its approach to Turkey’s leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
NATO foreign ministers will gather next week in Brussels for the US-backed alliance’s first face-to-face meeting involving Biden’s team.
NATO has long tried to smooth over internal disputes with Turkey — pointing to the role Ankara has played in housing millions of refugees from Syria and in fighting the Islamic State group….
BlackSabbath says
I would have told the NATO secretary in April of 1949 that letting Turkey in would be bad idea. They allowed Turkey in 1952 anyway. Now, 69 years later, in 2021, NATO realizes that it screwed up. It will take another 70 years or so to throw Turkey out if there is any NATO left because Turkey wants Europe to be part of new Ottoman empire under islamic rule.
Infidel says
Actually, during that time, Turkey was a Kemalist dictatorship but very eager to be a part of the EU, and pretty solidly anti-communist. Having them meant that NATO’s frontiers were at the Caucasus, rather than Eastern Thrace. They weren’t quite islamic, so it wasn’t even an islam vs communism argument (where typically, the west would pick the side of islam, however foolishly)
However, since 1991, that should have been reviewed. Certainly after Erdogan became Prime Minister in 2003
Infidel says
Just Stoltenberg? This is a conversation all of NATO needs to have. For starters, they need to redefine their mission: that alone is 30 years overdue! And no, their new mission is not climate change: they’re not a meteorological organization. They need to review geopolitics in the region, and this is what they’ll find:
– EU, bigly interested in distancing itself from US influence, and therefore should take initiatives in its own perceived interests
– US, which under Trump was America First, and under Biden is just the anti-Trump
– Canada, which is pro-US when both countries have the same government, be it left or right
– Eastern Europe, which is wary of Russia, but doesn’t like the socialist ways of the EU, nor its open borders policies
– Russia, which increasingly looks like a puppet state of China, and doing its bidding
– Turkey, which is off to resurrect the Ottoman caliphate
– Arab League, which wants to keep Turkey from reclaiming Arab territory like Syria
– Israel, which has its issues w/ Iran, and if they were real, Turkey as well
– Armenia and Azerbaijan
Given all of the above, it doesn’t make sense for NATO to pretend that they’re an anti-Russian bloc. Particularly when Germany has the NordStream pipeline running from Vyborg to Lubmin. They probably wouldn’t want to take sides on Israel vs Iran.
So NATO needs to assess whether Turkey’s geopolitical goals of resurrecting the Ottoman empire, as well as their alliance w/ Pakistan, is something compatible w/ NATO’s charter. If it is, then go ahead, although it’s hard to see how countries like Greece or Cyprus would remain a part of NATO
Incidentally, Turkey buying S-400s is the least of NATO’s issues
P.S. All this should show that we, the US, have no reason to remain in NATO. We could arm countries like Poland or Ukraine to defend against Russia, but beyond that, there is no justification. Also, Article 5 of NATO: if Russia invades, say Latvia, would that justify our declaring war on them, and is that something that we, the American people, would want?
Note to the Pentagon, State and the Military-Industrial complex: focus on the Indo-Pacific region and China. They have a bigger navy than ours, so we’d have our hands full. Also, on this side, we have more proactive allies in the Quad – namely Japan, India and Australia, who are more than happy to lend support to other countries threatened by China, like Vietnam, Mongolia, Taiwan et al. That’s where we should be putting our efforts
Cynthia in California says
Thank you, Infidel, for this excellent analysis. I thought I was fairly well informed on the “local” geopolitics re. NATO/Turkey/et al., but you’ve got me beat all to flinders.
Cynthia
Infidel says
You’re welcome, Cynthia
gravenimage says
NATO Secretary General admits that he has ‘serious concerns’ about Turkey
………….
That’s good to hear. Is he going to do anything about it, though? Likely not…