Turkey: what sense does it make for an Islamist dictatorship that supports Hamas to be in NATO?

@ElentirENG ES 1·16·2024 · 19:11 0

Those of us who are supporters of the Atlantic Alliance base our support for NATO on its condition as a club of Western democracies.

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The scandalous arrest of Israeli footballer Sagiv Jehezkel

For years now, Turkey has not met the minimum requirements to be considered a democracy, and Erdogan's Islamist regime is rapidly erasing all efforts previously made by that country to approach Western culture. The clearest and most recent example of this has been the arrest of Israeli footballer Sagiv Jehezkel in Turkey for showing his solidarity with those kidnapped by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023.

The Erdogan regime and its silencing of the Armenian genocide

This violation of freedom of expression was justified by the Turkish Minister of Justice, Yilmaz Tuncen, accusing the footballer of "publicly inciting hatred" and accusing Israel of "committing genocide in Gaza", a false and also cynical accusation, if we take into account that the Turkish state murdered 2 million Armenian Christians, a genocide that had among its main architects Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder and first president of the Republic of Turkey, a country in which the Erdogan regime has banned all commemoration of that colossal massacre, in a crude attempt to erase history.

Erdogan and his support for Hamas terrorists

The attitude of the Erdogan regime towards the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel should provoke reflection within NATO. Erdogan publicly defended Hamas after that criminal attack, stating that "Hamas is not a terrorist organization, but a liberation group that fights to protect its lands and its citizens." The official Turkish media spreads Hamas disinformation, thus contributing to whitewashing the crimes of that terrorist group.

These events are not a change of course in Türkiye. The Erdogan regime has been supporting Hamas for years, being one of its main supporters along with Iran and Qatar. It is intolerable that a NATO member country openly supports a terrorist group that is a serious threat to West and for other members of the Atlantic Alliance.

A country that does not meet the minimum requirements to be considered a democracy

There are other factors that should also be taken into account when deciding whether to expel Turkey from NATO. In the World Persecution List 2023 by Open Doors, Turkey is among the 50 countries that most persecute Christians, ranking 41st.

In the Economist Group's Democracy Index 2022, Turkey is ranked as a "hybrid regime", just like Russia, and is ranked 103. Its score has been worsening: from 5.70 in 2006 to 4.35 in 2022. In the World Press Freedom Rankings 2023 by Reporters Without Borders, Turkey is ranked 165, behind dictatorships such as Sudan (148), Afghanistan (152), Belarus (157 ), Venezuela (159) and Russia (164).

NATO defines itself as an organization that promotes "democratic values". Taking into account this essential characteristic of the Atlantic Alliance, it is incomprehensible that Turkey is part of that organization, especially when its government supports those who threaten the security of the West. It is time to begin the process of expulsion. We cannot have the enemy inside.

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Photo: Erdoğan Dijital Medya.