National Security

NATO ‘Degrading’ As Major Anti-ISIS Ally Shows Signs Of Defecting

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Saagar Enjeti White House Correspondent
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NATO Supreme Commander Army Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti believes Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s military purges after a failed coup are hurting the alliance.

Erdogan purged thousands of officers after elements within the Turkish military mounted a failed July coup. Many of the purged officers maintained high level ties and working relationships with the U.S. military and the NATO alliance.

“These officers served well here in Nato . . . I had talented, capable people here and I’m taking a degradation on my staff for the skill, the expertise and the work that they produced,” Scaparotti told reporters Wednesday. Army Gen. Joseph Votel echoed Scaparotti’s sentiments in July saying he was “concerned about what the impact” on NATO’s effectiveness.

Erdogan was enraged by Votel’s comments and accused him of colluding with Turkey’s coup plotters to take him down. Director of National Intelligence Eric Clapper concurred with Votel at the time, saying “many of our interlocutors have been purged or arrested. There’s no question that this is going to set back and make more difficult” the U.S.’s Middle East strategy.”

Erdogan’s tensions with fellow NATO allies have boiled since the failed July coup. The EU parliament proposed halting membership talks with Turkey Nov. 27 over Turkey’s crackdown on civil society. The governing body explicitly called Erdogan’s coup response “repressive” and “disproportionate.”

Erdogan immediately threatened the EU with flooding the continent with millions of new Syrian refugees saying, “you have betrayed your promises. If you go any further those border gates will be opened.”

Turkey agreed in March to house and care for millions of Syrian refugees who would otherwise flee to Europe, in exchange for increased EU funding and accelerated talks regarding Turkey’s EU membership. Erdogan has previously threatened to put refugees on “buses” to Europe as a negotiating tactic.

Turkey also indicated Nov. 22 an inclination to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in lieu of European Union membership. Russia and China dominate the SCO, and Turkey’s entry would mark a major departure from the West.

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Saagar Enjeti