First Posted: 2/11/2015
NATO, you have a problem. Turkey no longer is an asset for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It is a cancerous liability and an existential threat.
The latest example came last month at a meeting of the Parliamentary Union of OIC Member States in Istanbul. As the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) reports, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan accused the West of plotting against the Islamic world, pitting Muslim against Muslim.
Muslim nations must “unite and defeat the successors of Lawrence of Arabia who seek to disrupt the Middle East,” he said.
The attacks continued in subsequent visits to Ethiopia, Djibouti and Somalia, MEMRI reports.
It’s not as if we’re shocked by this behavior. After all, and as Joseph Klein reported last fall in FrontPage Magazine, “Turkey may well be the jihadists’ fifth column in NATO.”
Turkey’s border has become a way station for terrorist fighters, Mr. Klein reminds. It launders ISIS-controlled oil from Iraq and Syria, making Turkey one of ISIS’ key enablers, he says, and it has become a fertile ground for recruiting terrorists. And Mr. Erdogan, of course, long has openly supported the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas.
If NATO were a computer, Turkey would be malware. Unchecked, it will destroy the alliance. And if Turkey won’t leave on its own accord — why does it still want to be a member, anyway? — NATO should show it the door.
