Turkey’s Achilles Heal Nato The Soft Spot!
Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan is Israel-bashing once again. This time, he is declaring Israel cannot continue its partnership with NATO. In contrast, the conflict in (Palestine) continues, and Turkey will block all attempts at cooperation between Israel and NATO.
Erdogan’s Turkey is no stranger when it comes to undermining NATO; whether it’s blocking Sweden’s original application to join NATO or flaunting the sanctions on Russia that most NATO partners endorse, the list goes on.
If Turkey wishes to remain in NATO, it needs to curb its insatiable appetite for playing Devil’s advocate at the expense of unity within the NATO alliance. What’s to be done to bring Erdogan to heel? Firstly, Turkey needs to be reminded that The European Union is by far its number one import and export partner, regardless of China’s growing economic and political influence between the two countries.
NATO needs to pull at the scab that stifles Turkey-China relations, reminding them that should a devastating currency crisis occur in Turkey, only Europe, the USA, and the IMF—the ‘Strategic West’—are capable of rescuing Turkey from a financial meltdown. Erdogan would know that neither Russia nor Iran can provide Turkey with the financial and foreign direct investment necessary to mitigate an economic crisis. In theory, China could do so. However, there are historical reasons for caution in China doing so. The issue of the Turkic Uyghurs in the Chinese province of Xinjiang is an open sore and one that has the potential to fester and stifle closer relations with China. Xi Jinping does not necessarily want to invest in Erdogan’s political success due to his meddling in ties between the Uyghurs and the Chinese state.
Many other issues could plague any future strengthening of financial and political ties between the two countries. NATO must spell out these inherent vulnerabilities in a China-Turkey relationship.
If the West were to apply such stark diplomatic language to reign in Erdogan’s hubris, Israel would ultimately be the big winner.
