Major showdown coming between Turkey and NATO over Iran

Turkey is on a collision course with NATO over Turkey’s refusal – in connection with the placement of a land-based missile defense system on its territory by NATO – to have Iran designated an enemy (Hat Tip: Joshua I).

“We do not see any threat from any of our neighbouring countries, whether it is Iran, Russia, Syria or others,” Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu said during the weekend as he was visiting China.

“I state quite clearly that Turkey will not be a frontal or flanking country [of the Nato missile shield] and we do not want to see again a zone of the Cold War and its psychology in our region,” he added, noting that any Nato shield should be developed along these principles.

The line has irked the US, the main motor behind the shield, which is an upgraded version of a controversial plan by the previous George W. Bush administration.

According to unnamed US officials quoted by the Daily Telegraph, the missile defence deal is being seen as an “acid test” of Turkey’s commitment to the transatlantic security alliance.

“I would say that we are not putting pressure on the Turks [in regard to missile defence],” said US defence secretary Robert Gates at a Nato meeting in Brussels on 14 October. “But we are having continuing conversations with them as one of our allies.”

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Adding to Ankara’s reluctance in backing the Nato shield are America’s close links to Israel. According to the daily newspaper Today’s Zaman, Ankara has sought and reportedly received assurances from the US that intelligence gathered using the missile shield’s sensors will not be shared with Israel.

Under Washington’s plans, the ballistic missile defence system would be rolled out in two phases. In the next two years, US Navy ships would be deployed in the Mediterranean. This would be followed by land-based interceptors in Romania and Poland and a high-tech radar in Bulgaria or Turkey by 2015.

It’s time for Turkey to be thrown out of NATO. The West has to decide whether they are going to be allied with Israel or whether they are going to be allied with an Islamist ally of terror states like Iran and Syria. The choice should be obvious.