The West Doesn't Need Turkey

Movses Ter-Oganesyan

Security, Middle East

It’s time to end this one-sided and destructive relationship.

Last month the world was riveted by the attempted military coup in Turkey, followed by President Erdoğan exploiting the situation in the country to further solidify his own grip on power. This autocrat has had a whopping seventy thousand people detained, fired or suspended. Aside from military personnel and police, this number includes thousands of teachers, deans, journalists and judges. The speed at which these individuals were rounded up has left many questioning when the lists of detainees were actually complied.

The mass arrests of alleged putschists (read: political opposition) compelled Secretary of State John Kerry to remind Turkey that NATO expects the government to respect its own democratic institutions. Unfortunately, Kerry’s message comes far too late. The truth is that Turkey has used its NATO membership to make a mockery of democracy for decades. NATO has been an enabler, allowing Turkey to run amok in the region, and, indeed, fuels Turkey’s delusions of reviving the Ottoman Empire.

At the risk of continuing to ruin our international reputation, and after years of making excuses for our former ally, the time has come to end this one-sided and destructive relationship. Joining NATO offered Turkey a guarantee of national security that benefited Turkey far more than it benefited us in the West. This is truer today than ever before.

Under the protection of NATO, the increasingly Islamized nation has joined the ranks of Saudi Arabia and Iran in relying on proxy terrorist groups to advance its foreign policy. Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, Turkey has pushed into overdrive its own self-interest at the expense of the military union, becoming the tail that attempts to wag the dog, often achieving remarkable success.