Turkey: America’s Worst Ally?

Authored by Anders Corr via The Epoch Times,

Turkey is simultaneously one of the most important and worst of U.S. and NATO allies.

Most recently, it denied transit to two British minehunters that would have disabled Russian munitions and helped transport Ukrainian grain.

Last year, Turkey annoyed the West with a tanker blockade of its straits.

Turkey joined NATO in 1952. At the seat of the old Ottoman Empire, it plays a critical role as an influential civilizational center and one of America’s few close Muslim allies. Since 1955, the U.S. Air Force has operated an airbase in Turkey at Incirlik, flying spy and fighter missions critical to countering threats from Russia, Iran, and terrorists.

Yet, at a critical time for NATO expansion to Finland and Sweden, Turkey raised stumbling blocks and attempted to leverage its veto to get parochial concessions, such as against alleged Kurdish terrorists, and the lifting of military export restrictions, including of F-16 and F-35 fighters from the United States.

Turkey is a relatively poor country that relies on cheap Russian oil, which it attempts to purchase at a 25 percent discount, refine, and then reexport as Turkish-origin gas at market rates.

This shows one way in which the relationship between Russia and Turkey is far too close. Granting it access to F-35s could lead to key technology loss to Russia, which could then sell it to China.

Ankara apparently believes that it profits from playing both sides and leveraging global issues for its parochial benefit.

If all NATO countries did this, the alliance would be inoperable and cease to stand between the continental United States and an increasingly powerful axis of evil, including coordinated attacks by Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea.

It was not always this way.

Ankara has been an important force for moderation in disputes with other Muslim nations and actors, including in Afghanistan, to which it sent troops as part of the NATO deployment. Even recently, on Dec. 29, the Turkish government announced the arrest of 189 individuals with alleged links to ISIL (ISIS) terrorists.

But, after the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, Turkey supported Hamas. The terror group, which Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan calls “freedom fighters,” can operate relatively freely in Turkey. Israel announced that it planned to hunt down Hamas operatives globally, including in Turkey. The Turkish government’s arrest of 33 persons with alleged links to Israeli intelligence followed.

Turkey’s GDP rose dramatically from $202 billion in 2001 to $958 billion in 2013 (current U.S. dollars). But, since then, the economy stagnated. GDP per capita fell 15 percent. The government appears to be printing money in response, including for allegedly corrupt construction projects. Inflation is now at an astonishing 65 percent. Most Turkish workers make less than $300 per month.

Part of the problem is Mr. Erdogan, who calls the economic shots and is favored by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates as an Islamist counter to Western influence and secularism. Mr. Erdogan became prime minister in 2003, but only through a change to the country’s constitution did he get to run despite a criminal conviction. He alleged an attempted coup in 2008, which he used to target his secular opposition.

Protests in 2013 and a military insurrection were broken up with heavy-handed measures, like tear gas and beatings. Both gave Mr. Erdogan excuses for broad repression of civil society, including against activists and the press. With tens of thousands of opposition teachers, police, and other civil servants fired and over 100 news outlets shut down, self-censorship became the norm. Mr. Erdogan is now emboldened to extend his domestic attacks to Turkey’s constitutional court, whose power he wants to restrict.

Mr. Erdogan’s nationalist policies and authoritarianism provide him with excuses to betray his allies and citizens.

An end-of-year article by Cato Institute analysts rightly noted,

“Despite demonstrating time and again that it is not a reliable ally, Turkey continues to receive millions of dollars’ worth of U.S. weapons to buy a loyalty that it has proved unwilling to show.”

While the United States is considering the release of the F-16 fighter jet to Turkey to facilitate the accession of Finland and Sweden into NATO, the F-35 should be a no-go for any country with a leader as autocratic and unreliable as Turkey.

Additional measures, including increased tariffs and trade sanctions, should be considered to encourage Ankara to more thoroughly support democracy, the United States, and our closest G7 allies.

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Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ZeroHedge.