Pentagon Chief Questions Turkey's NATO Commitment After Threat
U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Turkey’s threats to close two critical NATO installations raise questions about its commitment to the military alliance.
A day after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned of possible retaliation if the U.S. imposes sanctions over Turkey’s purchase of a Russian missile system, the Pentagon chief suggested the country may have set itself on a collision course with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Erdogan denies his country, which has NATO’s second-largest military, is walking away from the alliance and says its purchase of weapons from Russia doesn’t weaken its role as a member. Yet that’s not how some in NATO see it, especially with Turkey set to sign an agreement with Russia to jointly produce missiles and receive the know-how to develop its own battlefield systems.
Strategically located between Europe and Asia, Turkey was a bulwark against the Soviet Union during the Cold War. But NATO members are voicing concern about its cultivation of military ties with Russia. Last month, Ankara agreed to support the alliance’s plans to defend Baltic states only after receiving assurances that U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish forces will be labeled a threat to Turkey.
The standoff intensified with Erdogan’s threat to shutter an early-warning radar at Kurecik and Incirlik Air Base, used by the Pentagon to store tactical nuclear weapons and conduct strikes against Islamic State.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-17/pentagon-chief-says-nato-may-debate-turkish-threat-to-shut-bases?srnd=politics-vp
