Why Erdogan will never trust NATO amid Putin missile deal – Express.co.uk

Despite being a member of NATO, Mr Erdogan has agitated fellow member states with his foreign policy, but his feelings towards the group of nations were previously positive. Dr Simon Waldman told Express.co.uk: Before, Turkeys position was that it should harness its relations wherever it has them, so in the Middle East it should have strong ties, strong ties with Europe and strong ties with NATO.

That is what gives Turkey its strengths, having as little issues with its neighbours as possible as well as cultural engagement.

However, the attempted coup in 2016 aimed at ousting Mr Erdogan from power, has left the Turkish President with bitterness towards some Western countries as he believes they assisted the Gulen movement in its efforts to remove him from the Presidential Palace.

Expert in Turkish politics, Dr Waldman continued: But then there is the attempted coup in Turkey in 2016, from the perspective of Erdogan this is a personal attempt against him, and he thinks where are the Gulen movement, the architects of the coup, from? oh it has bases in the US.

What did NATO give Turkey, where was NATO in the post-Saddam Hussein gulf war when Turkey came under threat? Where did NATO help after the Iraq invasion when the fallout reached Turkey? Where was the help when there was a Kurdish insurgency?

And who were the officers directing the coup, many of them earned their stripes in NATO- so this distrust of NATO starts to kick in.

During the coup, NATOs F-16 fighter jets were used by Turkish anti-government pilots to bombard the Parliament in the capital of Ankara.

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Why Erdogan will never trust NATO amid Putin missile deal - Express.co.uk