A Headache Named Turkey

One thing I will never understand, is how on earth a country like Turkey is part of a Western alliance like NATO. They have nothing in common. Turkey is a quasi-Islamist country. It controls part of a neighboring country (Cyprus). It does not like fellow non-NATO allies such as Israel. Is there any way to kick Turkey out of NATO?

Turkey entered NATO at the height of the Cold War in 1952. Sitting on the crossroads of Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, it is valuable strategically for the alliance. It allowed NATO to encroach the USSR border and Iran all in one country. But 1952 is not 2025. Turkey is not the country that entered NATO any longer. It is slowly becoming an Islamist country, supporting the Muslim Brotherhood in various countries such as Libya and Syria.

The fact that Turkey is so easily doing whatever it feels like puts NATO in a difficult position. Most NATO countries are like-minded countries who believe in Western principles. Turkey doesn’t. Under a regime such as Erdoghan’s, it is slowly going further away from the founding principles of Turkey’s founder, Ataturk. Furthermore, till when will Turkey control Northern Cyprus? And till when can Turkey verbally attack a non-NATO ally such as Israel? Turkey was once part of the West, but not anymore.

Not only this but Turkey has its own demands for NATO. For example, when Sweden and Finland wanted to enter NATO in 2024, Turkey blackmailed them. You read that correctly. Since accepting new NATO members must be unanimous, Turkey blackmailed them on ceasing to bring asylum for Kurdish rebels in return for a vote accepting the countries into the alliance.

It is time to expel Turkey from NATO. Even though, yes, there is strategic merit, it is just too much in my opinion. If NATO values strategy more than principles, then it must start putting principles first.