Turkey’s dangerous drift from Nato ally to Islamist agitator

So, you have to ask: What’s the game plan? And why is this man so committed to turning Turkey into a regional agitator rather than a stabilising power?

To understand today’s Turkey, it helps to look back.

Turkey has always occupied a strategic and symbolic place in the world, astride Europe and Asia, East and West.

Its ancient history is rich with Greek, Roman and Byzantine heritage. Then came the Ottoman Empire, a vast Islamic caliphate that once stretched from the gates of Vienna to the Persian Gulf. That empire earned the moniker “the sick man of Europe” in the 19th Century as it crumbled under the weight of corruption, decentralisation and economic decay.

After the First World War, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk forged a new path: a modern, secular, democratic republic.

He abolished the caliphate, banned religious political parties and aligned Turkey with the West. For decades, Turkey was a key Nato member and a crucial buffer against Soviet expansionism. But Erdoğan has spent the past 20 years dismantling that legacy.

Since coming to power, he has transformed Turkey from a secular democracy into an increasingly Islamist and authoritarian regime.

He has jailed tens of thousands of political opponents, academics, judges and journalists – turning Turkey into the world’s leading jailer of media professionals. He’s gutted judicial independence and used emergency powers to consolidate control over all branches of government.

But more disturbing from a geopolitical perspective is this leader’s deliberate pivot away from NATO and the West.

Consider his embrace of Hamas, buying Russian weapons, his threats to expel US forces from Incirlik Air Base, the military aggression in Syria and Iraq against the Kurds, warming ties with Iran and Russia and his use of Syrian refugees as political leverage against Europe.

It is time to acknowledge the obvious: Turkey may still carry a Nato membership card, but it no longer shares Nato’s values or interests.

Erdoğan’s Turkey undermines Western alliances at every turn, all while demanding the benefits of Nato protection. It is a relationship based not on shared purpose but strategic extortion.

As Erdoğan cosies up to autocrats and fires rhetorical salvos at democratic allies, the West must reassess the true nature of its relationship with Turkey.

That doesn’t mean abandoning the Turkish people – millions of whom oppose authoritarianism – but it does mean ending the charade that Turkey remains a trustworthy partner.

The sick man of Europe may have returned – but this time, the disease is ideological, not merely economic. And until Erdoğan’s Turkey is held accountable for its actions, the alliance it once upheld will continue to weaken from within.

Stephen Flatow is an American lawyer who successfully sued the Islamic Republic of Iran after his daughter, Alisa, was killed in a 1995 suicide bombing.