Turkey's admission into NATO in 1952 had a clear military purpose — the country's membership was supposed to help the Western alliance to avoid Soviet expansion in the region. From the Western point of view, it might have been the right decision to make during the Cold War era.
However, right now NATO doesn't need Turkey and it's time to ditch Ankara, especially after finding out that the Turkish government has ties with Islamic extremists in the Middle East, the US newspaper said.
"Old adversaries need to be re-evaluated, as do old ‘allies' — which were never likely allies to begin with… The time has come: Turkey should be removed from NATO," the American Thinker reported.
In 1974, Turkey invaded Cyprus, causing a split in NATO, which resulted in Greece withdrawing its forces from the alliance until 1980. Then in 2012, after repeated and deliberate airspace violations the Syrian Air Force shot down a Turkish plane causing NATO unwanted headaches.
According to the American Thinker, Turkey has always had Islamic ties due to its complex history. Under the protection of its NATO membership, Turkey managed to increase its influence in the region to the point that it supported ISIL by carrying out illegal oil sales with the terrorist organization, the US magazine said.
Following the rise of ISIL and a series of terrorist attacks in Europe, the EU and the United States need to defeat ISIL. NATO can't afford to have a country that "pretends to be a friend while stabbing [the West] in the back" and that's why Turkey needs to be dropped from the Western alliance, the American Thinker explained.
Instead, NATO should find a common ground with Russia since both parties are currently involved in the fight against Islamic extremism.
The Russian Su-24 Fencer bomber was shot down by two Turkish F-16s Tuesday morning while conducting operations over Syria.
One of the pilots from the downed Su-24 was rescued by the Syrian Army Tuesday morning. The other pilot was killed by fire from the ground after ejecting from the plane. A Russian naval infantry soldier also lost his life after an Mi-8 chopper was downed during a rescue operation.
The Turkish president said that Ankara acted in line with its sovereign right to respond to threats, claiming that the Russian jet had violated Turkish airspace. However, flight data released by the Russian Ministry of Defense shows that the Su-24s never entered Turkey, and were attacked while performing legitimate maneuvers over Syria.
