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NATO is more than a security alliance. It is a coalition of countries with shared values. If Turkey applied for NATO membership today, its application would not even be considered, and not only because it is Islamist, anti-democratic, and anti-American. Turkey’s security cooperation with Russia would also disqualify it from joining the alliance.

Tensions between the United States and Turkey have reached a boiling point over President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s commitment to buy Russian S-400 surface-to-air missiles for $2.5 billion. The missiles are scheduled for delivery in July.

The Pentagon has tried a combination of carrots and sticks to dissuade Turkey’s acquisition of the S-400s. Ankara has resisted pressure from the United States to take Patriot missiles instead, even though the U.S.-made Patriots are a superior weapons system and, with heavy subsidies, the Patriots are more affordable than the S-400s.

Erdoğan is adamant: “There can never be a turning back. This would not be ethical, it would be immoral. Nobody should ask us to lick up what we spat.”

Not only is Turkey sticking to arrangements for delivery of the S-400s, Erdoğan has suggested that Turkey might deepen its security cooperation with Russia, seeking the more advanced S-500 missile system from Moscow.

Buying missiles from Russia raises questions about Turkey’s reliability as an ally. It also undermines the core NATO principle of inter-operability.

So why is Erdoğan thumbing his nose at the United States and eroding Turkey’s credibility as a NATO ally?

His motivation is political. He is making a statement about Turkey’s independence from the West.

Erdoğan has taken umbrage over U.S. criticism of Turkey’s human rights record and its support for jihadis in Syria. He deeply resents U.S. security cooperation with Syrian Kurds, Washington’s allies fighting the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria.

U.S. criticisms of Turkey are justified. Under Erdoğan’s dictatorship, Turkey has been turned into a giant gulag.

After the so-called coup on July 15, 2016, tens of thousands of Turks were jailed under bogus terrorism charges and more than 100,000 civil servants were dismissed from their jobs. Turkey has jailed more journalists than any other country.

Source: https://ahvalnews.com/turkey-europe/time-has-come-suspend-turkey-nato