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The hypocritical ally: Turkey and the deterioration of relations with Washington

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Turkish president Erdogan, February 16, 2021 (Photo: Presidency of the Republic of Turkey)

It is paradoxical that, as a condition for Finland and Sweden’s entry into NATO, Turkey demanded that their governments consider the Kurdish groups that have taken refuge in their lands. These groups are deemed terrorist organizations due to their alleged affiliation with the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), while Turkey itself is, in fact, a state that, according to diverse specialists, intelligence agencies worldwide and international watchdogs, finances terrorist activities and launders money for organized crime (Financial Acton Task Force). In addition, as Turkish congressmen of the Democratic People’s Party (HDP) have denounced, the country’s government maintains links with the paramilitary group SADAT, which trains al-Qaeda and ISIS combatants and controls their deployment as mercenaries to Libya, Syria and Nagorno Karabakh.

In addition to its repressive policies against the Kurdish people, Turkey also persecutes opponents of the current government, like Osman Kavala who, without proof, was held to be responsible for organizing the Gezi Park protests in 2013. Reacting to that unfounded accusation, ambassadors from the US, Canada, Germany, France, Holland, Norway, Denmark, New Zealand, Sweden and Finland all manifested their concern and support for Kavala. The indignant reaction of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was unprecedented; he stated that he might declare those ambassadors personas non-grata. On April 25th of this year, Kavala was found guilty of “financing protests” whose aim, according to declarations by the prosecutor’s office, was “to overthrow the government.” He was sentenced to life imprisonment. The European Parliament issued a strong pronouncement against the sentence, stating that it considered that Turkey “had destroyed any hope” of re-opening the process of its adhesion to the European Union. In stark contrast, however, NATO’s members, including the US, have been prudent and said little about those events.

There have been two particularly raw points in US relations with Turkey. The first was the supposed coup d’état of July 15, 2016, which Turkish authorities maintain was orchestrated by the religious leader Fetullah Gülen with the support of the CIA. Gülen has lived in the US since 1999 in self-imposed exile. His organization, disdainfully referred to as “Fëto,” is catalogued as terrorist by the Erdogan regime. In response to the “coup,” the Turkish government undertook a massive purge of Gülenist elements in the armed forces and the entire structure of government and is currently persecuting every suspected member of the organization. But the US has offered protection and granted them asylum despite Turkey’s demand for Gülen’s extradition. This has increased friction between the two governments.

The second aggravation surfaced in 2019 when Erdogan’s government acquired a Russian S-400 antimissile system. This was not only contrary to NATO’s interests because the arms were purchased from the organization’s main geopolitical adversary, but also introduced armament that is incompatible with the Alliance’s collective security system and could place the security of US F-35 fighter plane flights over Turkish airspace at risk because the S-400’s radar could be operated to spy for Russia. Washington warned that if the purchase were consummated economic sanctions could be imposed under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), and Turkey would be excluded from the manufacturing program of F-35 planes. It also demanded that Turkey buy the US-made Patriot anti-missile system. In response to those measures, the Turkish government agreed to modernize its Air Force. Instead of purchasing F-35s, it would buy an additional 40 F-16 fighter jets to complement its existing fleet (using the 1.4 billion dollars it had already paid for F-35s). But US congressmen voiced their opposition to the sale, as did Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who during his visit to Washington lobbied strongly for the sale to be blocked while at the same time trying to convince Washington to sell the F-35s to Greece. Enraged, Erdogan bellowed that Prime Minister Mitsotakis had “ceased to exist” and was no longer a political interlocutor. Earlier, Ismail Demir, chief of the Turkish Presidency of Defense Industries, had threatened that if the US excluded Turkey from the purchase of the F-16 fighters they could buy Russian Su-35s and Su-57s. Their reactions clearly show how Erdogan’s government continues to blackmail NATO by maintaining that if pursuit of its political and military interests is impeded it is willing to forge agreements with countries antagonistic to NATO.

In line with the ultra-nationalist, imperialist conception generated since the 19th century by Ziya Gökalp which seeks to create a “Greater Turkey” that would encompass all Turkish people, since October 2020, Erdogan has worked to consolidate an organization with principles and objectives similar to those of NATO, but whose membership would consist exclusively of nations of Turkish origin. This so-called “Army of Turan,” under Turkish leadership, would include Azerbaijan and Turkish republics in Central Asia. In addition to a group whose principles of pan-Turkish cultural affinity could easily take a chauvinist turn, the creation of a new military alliance led by Turkey is, or should be, considered a violation of NATO’s principles, or even as a kind of Trojan horse; that is, a member of NATO that seeks to create and lead a military organization some members of which would also be allies of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) – such as Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan – the opposing military alliance commanded by Russia.

It is surprising that the US and its western allies have not yet decided to discuss Turkey’s expulsion from NATO or, at least, implementing economic sanctions like the ones previously imposed on Iran and Russia as a way to mitigate the tensions caused by Turkey’s aggressive foreign policy in recent years. Erdogan’s hypocritical game regarding Finland and Sweden’s entry into NATO, based on arguments of combatting terrorism, while his government is one of the principle precursors and sponsors of al-Qaeda and ISIS, his blackmailing of the west with arms purchases, whether the S-400 system or the Su-35 and Su-57 fighters, in addition to his efforts to form an alternative military alliance whose leadership would rest on his shoulders, should all be clear indicators that he could at any time turn his back on his NATO allies and begin to play for an opposing team in order to satisfy his ambitions. There is but one small step from hypocrisy to treason.

Author information

Carlos Antaramián

Carlos Antaramián

Carlos Antaramián is an anthropologist based in Mexico and has written several articles related to Armenian communities in Latin America.

The post The hypocritical ally: Turkey and the deterioration of relations with Washington appeared first on The Armenian Weekly.


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