Is Turkey Really a U.S. Ally?

By Bobby Miller

Monday, December 19, 2022

 

The United States tends to consider regimes that threaten their neighbors, aid and abet terrorists, jail opposition political figures, and impede Western solidarity as adversaries. Yet there’s one exception, which happens to be a NATO ally: Turkey.

 

In recent days, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to fire missiles at Athens and invade Syria (which could inadvertently lead to the release of thousands of imprisoned ISIS fighters); he has arrested people for allegedly spying on behalf of Israel, barred his chief rival from politics, and undermined NATO by refusing to approve Sweden and Finland’s accession to the bloc. Erdogan is a scoundrel and a menace to the international community. So why is Turkey still a member of NATO?

 

Well, old alliances are difficult to relinquish. Turkey joined NATO in 1951, during the years-long Turkish Straits crisis, as a containment bulwark against the expansion of Soviet influence in the Near East. However, after the Cold War, the cracks in the U.S.–Turkish relationship — once obscured by the two nations’ shared anti-communist stand — were exposed.

 

In the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf War, U.S. sympathy for the Iraqi Kurds’ plight for autonomy (even without direct American assistance to the Kurds) incensed the Turkish government, which has been combating Kurdish nationalists (and oppressing Kurdish civilians) within its borders for decades. Since Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in 2002, Turkey has pivoted away from the West, precipitating one of the most dramatic instances of democratic backsliding in the world. In 2016, after factions within the Turkish military staged an unsuccessful coup against Erdogan, the regime imprisoned the American pastor Andrew Brunson, under suspicion of espionage, and held him until President Trump negotiated his release in October 2018. Despite threatening sanctions against Turkey to force Brunson’s return — and throughout the Turkish regime’s growing authoritarianism — the U.S. has made an effort to preserve its shaky alliance with Ankara.

 

From Washington’s perspective, there are still benefits to the U.S.–Turkish relationship. Turkey participates in U.S. counterterrorism efforts (though sometimes belatedly) and upholds the Montreux Convention, ensuring naval and merchant-marine access to the Black Sea via the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles at a critical time, given the ongoing war in Ukraine. Turkey has also acted as a mediator between Ukraine and Russia, securing a crucial grain-export deal, allaying concerns regarding global food security.

 

Nevertheless, Turkey continues to be a thorn in the side of American foreign-policy interests. It has moved closer to revisionist powers such as Russia, China, and Iran, and aided Azerbaijan in its brutal war against Christian Armenians in 2020. It continues to persecute Kurds within its borders and beyond, and uses refugees as political leverage against the West.

 

The time has come for a new American posture toward Turkey. For too long, Erdogan has undermined Turkish democracy and sided with our foes against American interests. Instead of placating Turkey, as President Trump did by nearly withdrawing all U.S. troops from Syria in 2019, the Biden administration should begin distancing itself from Turkey and its neo-Ottomanism. As a first step, the U.S. can move some of its military assets currently deployed on Turkish soil, such as at Incirlik Air Base, to a more loyal and closely allied country in the region, such as Jordan or Israel. Additionally, if Erdogan does not change his behavior, NATO shouldn’t hesitate to revoke Turkey’s membership. With friends like these, who needs enemies?