NATO and TURKIYE by Behcet Kaya

Former Trump adviser John Bolton once said, “Lets dissolve NATO and form it again, this time excluding Turkiye.” Bolton, who served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, is known to be a neocon and ultra conservative, but in this case, he was merely regurgitating what is already being said by the Biden administration. 

The EU and the U.S. have been planning to throw Turkiye out of NATO for a long time. Turkish insiders are also voicing the opinion that Turkiye should leave NATO. 

Two specific events occurred which support this agenda: First- the downing of the Russian SU-57 jet which was planned and executed by Fetullah fighter pilots in the Turkish air force. Second- the killing of a Russian Ambassador by Fetullah police. Both of these events were, in reality, carried out by a CIA directive. 

The purpose of these events was twofold: First- to create a Russian/Turkish war to prevent Erdogan from getting too close to Russia. Second- to find the excuse to finally throw Turkiye out of NATO. After the downing of the Russian jet there were many voices in Italy stating that Turkiye was not behaving like a member of NATO; meaning the NATO nations didn’t want war with Russia and Turkiye was becoming a heavy burden for NATO. 

In the U.S. there is also the so-called back door politics; in this case letting the public know what Bolton said about Turkiye. In reality it is the U.S. Deep State that in controlling foreign policy, not the president. In this case Biden is merely a puppet. 

There are also many Turks who don’t understand how America foreign policy functions. They are not aware that most American high-ranking officials (such as military generals) are ethnic Americans, Greek American, Jewish-American, or Arab-American. Do you honestly think that a Greek American military general is going to favor American policy towards Turkiye? 

What the Turkish people see is a high-ranking American official speaking on behalf of America talking as if Turkiye is an outright enemy. They see these high-ranking American officials as the enemy of Turks. And, yes, it is often the case. But, on the flip side, there have been Americans who know and understand who the Turks are. Take General MacArthur and other generals who, during the Korean War, understood who the Turks are. They always spoke favorably about Turks. 

Recently twenty-seven senators and members of congress (from both parties) wrote a letter to Biden not to sell the F-16 fighter jets to Turkiye unless Turkiye allowed Sweden and Finland to join NATO. Did they even question the reason why Turkiye vetoed Sweden’s membership into NATO? 

No, of course not. Turkiye demands that Sweden not support the terrorist PKK group and not to allow the PKK to fund raise money for their terrorist purposes. Turkiye is not against Sweden and Finland’s membership. It merely stating the fact that the PKK has killed over 40,000 of our Kurdish origin Turks. Turkish armed forces have been fighting the U.S. supported PKK for over forty years. 

Sweden further allows its political party members to burn the Koran in front of the Turkish embassy, an outright insult to Turkiye. Don’t the U.S. senators and congress members know this fact? Of course, they do, but they expect Turkish politicians to behave, ignore what happened, and do what their told to do. 

U.S. politicians and the Pentagon are still not used to the fact that Turkiye no longer take orders from the Pentagon. GET USED TO IT. 

Currently there are several unsettling situations happening in Turkiye; all in the midst of the aftermath of two powerful earthquakes that hit the southeastern part of the country. Why is there an American warship anchored in the Bosporus in front of the Dolmabahçe Palace? Why is there an American aircraft carrier in the Aegean Sea? 

Despite the American ambassador giving a speech on the warship, this can have only one meaning. It is to show power over the Turkish public. In other words, behave or else. A friendly show of force. 

As for the aircraft carrier anchored in the Greek port. The Greeks have been complaining about two situations. One- if Erdogan comes to power again, he will attack Greece. Two- Turkiye is violating their shoreline. So, what does the Pentagon do? Use this as an excuse to come and use psychological warfare on the Turks. 

This fact must be made perfectly clear. Turkiye has NO plans to attack Greece. Turkiye is only protecting its shores and what is rightfully theirs under international laws. 

In fact, the Greeks are lying. Greece only controls six miles into the Aegean Sea. They contend they have ten miles. International law states that a country has only six miles of shoreline, not ten. But the Greeks continue to complain to the world that the Turks are violating their shoreline. The Pentagon, without looking into the facts of the Greek complaint, rush to their ‘rescue,’ giving the Turks a lesson by intimidation. 

The Turks have a message for the Pentagon. Your intimidation is just a lot of hot air. Turkiye is not afraid of your warship or your aircraft carrier. Turkiye is longer the old ally that did whatever it was told to do. Turkiye now conducts its policies as to what is right and best for Turkiye and the Turkish people.