Brussels, Belgium. It was only a matter of time before NATO would have to do something about their Turkish ally Erdogan and his Hitler-like consolidation of power. The 1000s being arrested in the long Turkish nights and the camps all too familiar with Europeans, is starting to strain the Turkish-NATO dynamic.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has warned Turkey to fully respect legal due process, as Ankara continues to make mass arrests after Erdogan’s enabling act’s passage.
“Turkey has the right to protect itself and to prosecute those who were behind failed coup attempts but that has to take place based on the full respect of the rule of law,” Stoltenberg said as he arrived for an EU defence ministers meeting in Valletta.
“I attach a great importance to these values myself and this is an issue we have discussed with the Turkish leadership,” Stoltenberg added.
Secret police from Turkey detained more than 1,000 people and suspended over 9,000 police in a vast new crackdown against alleged supporters of Fethullah Gulen, the US resident islamic cleric Erdogan accuses of mounting the coup.
Turkish “Fuhrer” Erdogan earlier this month narrowly won a controversial referendum which gives him increased powers, sparking increased concerns in Europe over the country’s rights record.
Turkey is a crucial NATO ally, sitting at a strategic crossroads and providing the US led NATO alliance with its second biggest military component after the United States. A strategic location for American intervention in the region.
“Turkey is a key ally for many reasons, especially for its strategic geographic location bordering Iraq, Syria and all the violence, the turmoil we see to the south but also close to Russia and the Black Sea,” Stoltenberg noted, leading analysts to conclude NATO is openly viewing Russia as it’s enemy.
Stoltenberg said he looked forward to a Brussels summit in May, where Erdogan’s “issues” could be carefully discused. Obviously behind closed doors, lest Europe awake to another Hitler in the making.