Time for NATO to expel increasingly Islamist, authoritarian Turkey
Turkey,
under the almost two-decade long leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, is making fewer attempts to
conceal its increasingly Islamist tendencies, while actively working against
the interests of the West, which calls for the ejection of the country out of
NATO alliance, wrote freelance journalist Tim Ogden.
Ankarathreatens
to fatally undermine the alliance it has been a member of since 1952, Ogden
wrote in the Spectator, with the deterioration of Turkey’s relations with the
West gaining momentum under Erdoğan’s
ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
Turkey was
most recently involved in a diplomatic row with France over French President
Emmanuel Macron’s remarks on Islam and Muslims, and his refusal to remove
cartoons mocking the Prophet Muhammad. Erdoğan has responded by questioning the
mental state of his French counterpart and calling for a boycott of French
products.
Over the
past year, Turkey has launched major offensives against Kurdish forces in
neighbouring Syria and Iraq, while intervening against rebel General Khalifa
Haftar and his forces in war-torn Libya. The country also backs Azerbaijan in
its dispute with Armenia over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh while
becoming further entangled in a conflict with Cyprus and Greece over
hydrocarbon resources in the eastern Mediterranean.
“Why then
has NATO not yet acted against its bellicose member?’’ Ogden asked. “The
obvious solution would be to have Turkey ejected from the alliance, a move
which would show that NATO has the courage of its own convictions and will not
tolerate members which have, effectively, become hostile powers.’’
It is
better that the alliance follows this course than allowing Ankara to quit on
its own terms, according to Ogden, however, NATO has no mechanisms to eject
member states.
Perhaps,
the analyst said, the alliance could alter its founding document in order to
remove Turkey, as failing to do so would only reinforce its current weak image.
“If NATO
cannot stand up to its allies, it is highly unlikely it will appropriately
confront its enemies,’’ Ogden said.
