NATO biggest threat to Turkey’s independence and sovereignty… Demand raised in Erdogan’s country

Turkey celebrated the 70th anniversary of its NATO membership on 18 February 2022 with much fanfare. Almost a year later, Turkey’s Vatan Party has launched a nationwide campaign against NATO. In this, the Recep Tayyip Erdogan government has been demanded to take Turkey out of NATO as soon as possible. Ozgur Bursali, General Secretary of the Vatan Party, said that since the launch of the nationwide ‘Let’s Leave NATO’ campaign, the number of people supporting it has exceeded 1 lakh. This figure is increasing rapidly day by day.

Watan Party started campaign

He said that the people of Turkey oppose NATO. They believe that the NATO alliance and the US are the main threats to our country. There is also a contradiction between Turkey and NATO on many issues. In such a situation, Turkey should leave NATO and form an alliance with true friendly countries. Earlier this week, on January 25, Ethem Sancak, deputy leader of the Vatan party, told the press that Turkey could leave the US-led military bloc in five to six months. He cited US-Turkey differences in the Middle East and campaigns against the Quran in Sweden and the Netherlands.

Erdogan’s spokesman rejected the demand

Sankak cited a recent survey showing that nearly 80% of Turkish respondents believe that US policies towards their country are hostile and destructive. However, Omer Çelik, a spokesman for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AK Party), denied Sancak’s statement on the same day. Selin said that “the question is absurd. We are one of the founding countries of NATO. Nevertheless, it is hard to deny that Turkey-NATO relations have been rifts for a long time.

Turkey is a founding member of NATO

Turkey’s Membership Protocol to NATO was signed on October 17, 1951, and the nation became a member of NATO on February 18, 1952. The country has the second largest military in the bloc and hosts the Allied Land Command Headquarters. Even though Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, maintained friendly relations with the USSR, his successor joined the Western Bloc at the start of the Cold War. Turkey benefited from the Truman Doctrine (1947) and the Marshall Plan (1948) proposed by the US. In 1950, Turkey also sent troops to fight on the US side in the Korean War (1950–53).

Turkey’s strong ties with Russia

NATO was created against Russia. Turkey, a founding member of the same, has a deep friendship with Russia. Russia-Turkey relations began to strengthen after the collapse of the USSR. Over the past several decades, Russia and Turkey have intensified economic, political and military cooperation, which has drawn sharp criticism from the US-led NATO bloc. Notably, Turkey’s decision in December 2017 to acquire the Russian-made S-400 missile defense system led to Ankara being expelled from the US-led multinational fifth-generation fighter jet program in 2019. However, Turkey also invested $1.4 billion in the project. Later, the US also banned the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey.