On Oct. 9, Turkey, an ally of the United States through NATO, attacked the Kurdish people in Syria who serve as an ally of the United States in the fight against ISIS.
NATO was created after World War Two as a safeguard against the tyranny of the Soviet Union. Now, NATO has a tyrant in the form of Turkey that needs to be removed from its ranks.
The Kurdish people are indigenous to the Middle East with their main populations in Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria. They are united through race and culture, but they do not have their own nation. Instead, they live as minorities in many places.
In 2013, Daesh attacked three Kurdish enclaves near its territory in Syria. Since then, the Kurdish Army in Syria, the YPG, have been the main ground force for the United States in the fight against Daesh.
Because the Kurdish people are split up, there are various subgroups with their own agenda. In Turkey, there is a group called the PKK that states the group’s aim is to make the government of Turkey recognize the Kurdish in Turkey’s rights.
The struggle between the Turkish government and the Kurdish started when Turkey first gained independence. The founder of modern Turkey denied any cultural sub-group in Turkey should exist, banning any expression of a sub-culture and making it illegal to speak any minority language. As 20% of the population, the Kurdish created the PKK to fight for their culture and for political representation (which Turkey has also denied).
Since 2015, over 4,000 Kurdish civilians have been killed and tens of thousands of Kurdish people and politicians have been jailed on “terrorism” charges, which critics have argued are to stop political representation and allow an ethnic cleansing of a large minority in Turkey.
The United States, Turkey, and other nations have labeled the PKK as a terrorist organization. Turkey has made the claim that the YPG and PKK are connected without citing much evidence. This is the excuse they used to invade Syria without the country’s approval.
Turkey is mainly a member of NATO because of its location during the Cold War. Positioned near the Black Sea and the Middle East, it was crucial to stopping the spread of the Soviet Union. Now, though, Turkey has outlived its usefulness.
When the Soviet Union fell, many eastern bloc nations wanted to join NATO for protection against Russia. NATO then came up with requirements that Turkey does not meet. These include stable democratic systems, peaceful settlement of disputes, good relations with the nation’s neighbors, commitment to human rights and rule of law, and established civilian and democratic control of the military. Turkey has not followed any of these requirements—the only one Turkey has met is having a market-based economy.
Another concern is that Turkey has been strengthening its alliance with Russia. In July, Turkey bought Russian-made S400 missiles, which are specifically designed to shoot down NATO fighter jets. Then, earlier this month, the President of Turkey met with Vladimir Putin in a closed-door meeting.
Turkey’s government has also been increasing anti-American sentiment due to a cleric residing in the United States who is considered an enemy of the Turkish government. All in all, this member of NATO is slowly becoming anti-NATO.
The main issues that surround breaking off ties with Turkey are the size of its army and nuclear missiles. Besides the United States, Turkey has the biggest military in NATO. While this concern is valid and the manpower would be missed, NATO can easily add other smaller nations to bring up the manpower as Turkey has also not been involved in a NATO action since 2003. We are not currently dependent on their resources.
Since the Cold War, the United States has kept nuclear missiles in Turkey to ward off Russian aggression. However, this would be resolved easily by moving them to an eastern European nation that supports the United States and wants more protection from Russia. Turkey should not be near and/or have access to where our nuclear weapons are while they’re also buying missile systems from the Russians.
The invasion of a sovereign nation by a member of NATO is inexcusable. There are no major links that prove the Kurdish groups in Syria are connected to the actions of the PKK in Turkey. Turkey is using the excuse of national security to commit an ethnic cleansing of a people in another country. They are acting with impunity. NATO was created to halt the actions of a powerful authoritarian regime—it shouldn’t have one as a member.
Now is the time to get rid of Turkey from NATO.
