Turkey & NATO: Erdogan a Menace to International Community

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?

About the Author

Bobby Miller

Bobby Miller is an ISI Fellow at National Review and a graduate student at Georgetown University.

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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?