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Enough Is Enough: NATO Must Suspend Cooperation With Turkey
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addressing the congress of the ruling Islamist AKP Party in March 2021. Photo: Reuters/Umit Bektas.
JNS.org – I don’t know the word for “chutzpah” in Turkish, but whatever it is, it applies in spades to recent comments from Fatih Ceylan, Turkey’s former Ambassador to NATO.
Speaking to Al-Monitor about the security implications of Turkey’s full-throated support for Hamas, Ceylan poured cold water on the proposition that Israel might carry out targeted killings of Hamas and allied terrorists based there, as it has done with spectacular success in Lebanon and Iran over the last week. After dismissing the likelihood of similar operations on Turkish soil, Ceylan added that were one to happen, “[I]n such a case, Turkey will certainly take this move to NATO.”
When it comes to NATO, Turkey—under the brutally authoritarian rule of its diehard Islamist president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan—has stood out as the alliance’s greatest liability. Indeed, had Turkey not joined NATO in 1952, when it was ruled by a secular, Western-oriented government, there’s no question that it would even be a candidate for membership in the present day. What Erdoğan has done is to leverage Turkey’s membership to undermine the alliance from within, functioning almost as a fifth column.
In Syria, for example, Turkish forces have carried out strikes against the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who are, in turn, backed by the United States—Ankara’s ostensible ally and the most powerful of NATO’s 32 members. In October 2023, the situation was so bad that the United States was compelled to shoot down a Turkish drone—one NATO member taking military action against another.
Erdoğan’s relationship with Vladimir Putin’s regime in Russia is just as disturbing. Ankara was booted out of the US F-35 fighter jet program in 2019 after it purchased S-400 missiles from the Russians. In the wake of Putin’s aggression against democratic Ukraine, Turkey has actively participated in busting the international sanctions on Moscow and aided corrupt Russian oligarchs in moving funds through Turkish banks.
Turkey has also been actively hostile to other NATO members, especially Greece. Half of the island of Cyprus has been illegally occupied by the Turks since 1974; earlier this year, Erdoğan showed up there to celebrate the 50th anniversary of that invasion. It has tried to stem NATO’s expansion, holding up Sweden’s application for membership, which was finally approved only last March. As my colleague at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, Sinan Ciddi, memorably put it: “Pick your theater of vital security interests for the NATO alliance, and you’ll discover a Turkish connection that actively undermines it.”
So when Ceyhan breezily says that Turkey will raise any Israeli operations on its territory with NATO—hoping, no doubt, that doing so will trigger Article 5 of the NATO Treaty, which enshrines the principle that an attack on one member is an attack on all—one might reasonably expect, given this woeful record, that the other NATO members will proffer a middle finger in Ankara’s direction.
Right now, the Middle East is in the most febrile state arguably since the State of Israel’s creation in 1948. As we sit on the cusp of a regional war that would pose an unmistakable existential threat to Israel, Turkey is doing everything it can to stoke the flames. Erdoğan is already known for his vicious rhetorical attacks on the Jewish state, laced with the crudest antisemitism. Since Hamas’s pogrom of Oct. 7, that has only gotten worse, with Erdoğan claiming that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “worse than Hitler” and depicting Israel as a reincarnation of the Third Reich. Additionally, the Turkish president has taken special delight in feting the rapists of Hamas on his home turf, among them the late, unlamented Ismail Haniyeh, who was eliminated on July 31 with wonderful symbolism in Tehran. Haniyeh’s assassination unleashed another foul Erdoğan tirade, along with an announcement of a national day of mourning over the loss of his “brother.” To cap it all, he even threatened at the end of July to invade Israel, boasting: “Just as we entered Nagorno-Karabakh, just as we entered Libya, we might do the same to them. There is nothing we can’t do.”
As a result, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz aptly compared Erdoğan to the late Iraqi tyrant Saddam Hussein as he called on NATO to boot Turkey from its ranks. The problem with that proposal, however, is that there is no procedure within the alliance to expel a member—even when, as in Turkey’s case, said member makes an active mockery of NATO’s commitment to democratic values and the defense of open societies.
For that reason, NATO has to think honestly, bravely and creatively about Turkey’s future status. Honestly, because it is now painfully clear that Turkey’s stance undermines and contradicts NATO’s core purpose, and that needs to be said out loud. Bravely, because one or more states need to summon the guts to publicly question Turkey’s value to the alliance and get the United States on board—something that might be easier to achieve with a Republican, rather than a Democratic, administration. Creatively, because the absence of an expulsion mechanism means that member states need to figure out another way to get Turkey out of NATO.
That could mean refusing to take part in military exercises with Turkey; ending intelligence sharing with Ankara’s security services; shunning meetings with Turkish military officers; and providing usable intelligence to Israel about Turkey’s support for Hamas and Hezbollah. Erdoğan should also be challenged for his hypocrisy in not exiting NATO voluntarily. If he is the great Islamic leader that he claims to be, if he is aligning himself more and more with Iranian interests, if the murderers and marauders in Lebanon, Gaza, the West Bank, Yemen, Syria and Iraq are his new best friends, then what on earth is he doing in NATO? Turkish NATO membership doesn’t serve his goals. Neither does it serve ours.
NATO has faced a few external tests since its formation, but Turkey is the biggest internal one since French President Charles de Gaulle withdrew from NATO’s command structure in 1966. It is also more dangerous since de Gaulle’s objections to US domination of NATO didn’t drive France into the hands of the Soviets. To protect themselves and what the alliance stands for, NATO members have only one option: suspend cooperation with Turkey and do all they can to secure Turkey’s departure from an alliance that it only disgraces.
The post Enough Is Enough: NATO Must Suspend Cooperation With Turkey first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran Tells France to Review ‘Unconstructive’ Approach Ahead of Nuclear Talks
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei visits the Iranian centrifuges in Tehran, Iran, June 11, 2023. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Iran‘s foreign ministry called upon Paris to review its “unconstructive” approach, a few days before Tehran is set to hold a new round of talks about its nuclear program with major European countries.
On Monday, Emmanuel Macron said Tehran’s uranium enrichment drive is nearing a point of no return and warned that European partners in a moribund 2015 nuclear deal with Iran should consider reimposing sanctions if no progress is reached.
“Untrue claims by a government that has itself refused to fulfill its obligations under the nuclear deal and has played a major role in [Israel’s] acquisition of nuclear weapons is deceitful and projective,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei wrote on X on Wednesday.
France, Germany, and Britain were co-signatories to the 2015 deal in which Iran agreed to curb enrichment, seen by the West as a disguised effort to develop nuclear-weapons capability, in return for lifting international sanctions.
Iran says it is enriching uranium for peaceful purposes and has stepped up the program since US President-elect Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the 2015 deal during his first term of office and restored tough US sanctions on Tehran.
French, German, and British diplomats are set to hold a follow-up meeting with Iranian counterparts on Jan. 13 after one in November held to discuss the possibility of serious negotiations in coming months to defuse tensions with Tehran, as Trump is due to return to the White House on Jan. 20.
Baghaei did not mention French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot’s comment regarding three French citizens held in Iran.
Barrot said on Tuesday that future ties and any lifting of sanctions on Iran would depend on their release.
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With Hezbollah Weakened, Lebanon to Hold Presidential Vote
Suleiman Frangieh, leader of the Marada movement, gestures as he speaks after meeting with Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rai, in Bkerke, Lebanon, Oct.30, 2021. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
Lebanon‘s parliament will try to elect a president on Thursday, with officials seeing better chances of success in a political landscape shaken by Israel’s war with Hezbollah and the toppling of the Lebanese terrorist group’s ally Bashar al-Assad in neighboring Syria.
The post, reserved for a Maronite Christian in the country’s sectarian power-sharing system, has been vacant since Michel Aoun’s term ended in October, 2022. None of the political groups in the 128-seat parliament have enough seats to impose their choice, and they have so far been unable to agree on a consensus candidate.
The vote marks the first test of Lebanon‘s power balance since the Iran-backed Shi’ite terrorist group Hezbollah — which propelled its then Christian ally Aoun to the presidency in 2016 ‚ emerged badly pummeled from the war with Israel.
It takes place against a backdrop of historic change in the wider Middle East, where the Assad-led Syrian state exercised sway over Lebanon for decades, both directly and through allies such as Hezbollah.
Reflecting the shifts, Hezbollah and its ally the Shi’ite Amal Movement led by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri have dropped their insistence on Suleiman Frangieh, their declared candidate for the last two years, and are ready to go with a less divisive figure, three senior sources familiar with their thinking said.
Candidates in focus include army commander General Joseph Aoun — said by Lebanese politicians to enjoy US approval — Jihad Azour, a senior International Monetary Fund official who formerly served as finance minister, and Major-General Elias al-Baysari — head of General Security, a state security agency.
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said he felt happy because “God willing, tomorrow we will have a new president,” according to a statement from his office.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot also expressed hope in comments to France Inter radio, saying the election was “a prerequisite for the continuation of this dynamic of peace” and also for Lebanon‘s economic and social recovery.
However, two of the sources and an analyst cautioned that it was not yet certain any candidate would be elected. To win, a candidate must secure 86 votes in a first round, or 65 in a second round.
Reflecting Western and regional interest in the vote, French and Saudi envoys met Lebanese politicians in Beirut on Wednesday. Four Lebanese political sources who met the Saudi envoy, Prince Yazid bin Farhan, last week said he spelt out preferred qualifications which signal Saudi support for Aoun.
Saudi Arabia was once a big player in Lebanon, vying with Tehran for influence in Beirut, before seeing its role eclipsed by Iran and Hezbollah.
HEZBOLLAH STILL SEEN WITH SWAY
Aoun, head of Lebanon‘s US-backed army, would still need 86 votes because his election requires a constitutional amendment, as he is a still-serving state employee, Berri has said.
A State Department spokesperson said it was “up to Lebanon to choose its next president, not the United States or any external actor.”
“We have been consistent in our efforts to press Lebanon to elect a new president, which we see as important to strengthening Lebanon’s political institutions,” the spokesperson said.
Hezbollah official Wafiq Safa said last week there was “no veto” on Aoun. But the sources said Hezbollah, designated a terrorist group by the United States and other countries, will not support Aoun.
Aoun has a key role in shoring up the ceasefire brokered by Washington and Paris in November. The terms require the Lebanese military to deploy into south Lebanon as Israeli troops and Hezbollah withdraw forces.
Still reeling from a financial collapse in 2019, Lebanon desperately needs foreign aid to rebuild.
Much of the damage is in Shi’ite majority areas.
Hezbollah, its supply line to Iran severed by Assad’s ousting, has urged Arab and international support for Lebanon.
Lebanon‘s Maronite Bishops called on lawmakers to elect a president, urging a “national awakening.”
Nabil Boumonsef, deputy editor-in-chief of Annahar newspaper, was not certain anyone would be elected, even after the major shift in the balance of power in Lebanon, where Hezbollah‘s weapons have long been a source of division.
Underlining the influence Hezbollah and Amal still wield, he said the only way a president could be elected would be if they agreed on Aoun or Azour. But if they tried to install their preferred candidate, this would “sever the oxygen from Lebanon.”
Saudi Minister Faisal bin Farhan said last October that Riyadh had never fully disengaged from Lebanon and that outside countries should not tell Lebanese what to do.
The post With Hezbollah Weakened, Lebanon to Hold Presidential Vote first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Bodies of Hostages Youssef and Hamza Ziyadne Retrieved From Gaza
People walk past images of hostages kidnapped in the deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas from Gaza, in Tel Aviv, Israel, April 11, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Hannah McKay
JNS.org — Israel Defense Forces troops located the bodies of hostages Youssef and Hamza Ziyadne during military operations in the Gaza Strip, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed on Wednesday evening.
In a statement shared by the Defense Ministry, Katz expressed his “deep condolences to the Ziyadne family upon the discovery of the bodies of Youssef and Hamza, who were kidnapped by Hamas murderers on Oct. 7 and were rescued in a heroic operation by our heroic soldiers.”
“We continue to do everything to fulfill our supreme moral obligation — the return of all the hostages, living and dead, to Israeli soil,” he added.
The IDF and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) confirmed that Youssef’s remains were found in a tunnel in the Rafah area of southern Gaza. The statement did not immediately confirm the discovery of Hamza’s body, though it said that findings in the tunnel raised “serious concerns” for his life.
“Our hearts ache,” Ali Ziyadne, Youssef’s brother, told Israel’s Ynet news outlet. He added, “We wanted them to return to our family alive, but unfortunately they returned dead. Aisha and her brother Bilal were waiting to embrace them. This is a difficult and shocking disaster.”
Youssef Ziyadne, 53, and his children Hamza, 22, Bilal, 18, and Aisha, 17, residents of the Israeli Bedouin community of Rahat, were abducted by Palestinian Hamas terrorists during the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre while they were working in Kibbutz Holit near the border with Gaza.
Bilal and Aisha were released as part of the November 2023 ceasefire agreement between Jerusalem and Hamas after 55 days in captivity.
On Oct. 7, 2023, 25 residents of Rahat, the largest Muslim Bedouin city in Israel’s Negev desert, headed to Gaza border communities Kibbutz Holit and Kibbutz Sufa to work and did not return.
They were among the 1,200 people killed by Hamas during its invasion of Israel that morning. Thousands more were wounded, and more than 250 were taken back to the Strip as hostages, including six Bedouins.
According to Israeli estimates, there are 98 hostages still in Hamas captivity in Gaza, including 94 abducted during the Oct. 7 attacks.
Of the 251 hostages taken on Oct. 7, 157 have been returned or rescued, and Hamas is believed to be holding 36 bodies, 34 of them taken on Oct. 7 and the remaining two being IDF soldiers Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul, who were kidnapped in 2014.
The post Bodies of Hostages Youssef and Hamza Ziyadne Retrieved From Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.