Pence Issues Turkey Ultimatum: “Choose Between Remaining NATO Member Or Buying Russian S-400”
Two days after we reported that the US had halted delivery of equipment related to the stealthy F-35 fighter aircraft to Turkey as part of the ongoing rift over Erdogan’s plans to move forward with taking delivery of the advanced Russian S-4000 anti-air defense system, on Wednesday the US escalated the war of words with its NATO ally when Vice President Mike Pence threatened Turkey’s future role in the NATO alliance, warning it against “reckless decisions,” like following through with the purchase of the Russian-made air defense system
“Turkey must choose. Does it want to remain a critical partner in the most successful military alliance in history or does it want to risk the security of that partnership by making such reckless decisions that undermine our @NATO alliance?,” Pence tweeted on Wednesday, after making similar remarks at a NATO summit in Washington.
Despite repeated warnings from the US, Turkey has refused to drop its scheduled purchase the Russian weapons system, which is scheduled to be delivered in July. After the Pentagon halted deliveries of the fifth-generation F-35 fighter jet and related equipment to Turkey and halted training of Turkish pilots, Ankara remained defiant with Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu telling the NATO summit that the purchase was “a done deal.”
Cavusoglu and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are currently meeting head-to-head at the summit to discuss the F-35 dispute.
Complicating matters, Turkey is a core partner in the F-35 program, which is US’ most expensive military project to date, and is responsible for the procurement of several components of the ultra modern fighter jet. If both sides cannot reach a deal, the US will need to find new suppliers for parts of the fighter’s fuselage, landing gear, and cockpit displays.
My take: The smart money says stop counting on Turkey for ANYTHING friendly to the West. A lot of the articles I read imply that Erdogan wants to cuddle up to the Russians. My take is that Erdogan has long-range plans to make Turkey a world power and Islamist revolutionary state on its own terms. We should start by removing our nukes from Turkey (if we haven’t already), kick Turkey out of NATO, and begin cultivating allies to oppose the new Ottoman Empire that Erdogan so earnestly seeks to revive.
Turkey’s leader has dreams of the ottoman empire reborn. He has taken steps to move it forward then he killed the economy and it is in sort of stand by.
You can’t build an empire without a robust economy…Turkey dosen’t have that, and, if their economy takes a bigger dump, and it gets like Venezuela, Erdogan is liable to be found floating face down in the river… The Turkish people will regret the day they put this asshole in power…
My take: The smart money says stop counting on Turkey for ANYTHING friendly to the West. A lot of the articles I read imply that Erdogan wants to cuddle up to the Russians. My take is that Erdogan has long-range plans to make Turkey a world power and Islamist revolutionary state on its own terms. We should start by removing our nukes from Turkey (if we haven’t already), kick Turkey out of NATO, and begin cultivating allies to oppose the new Ottoman Empire that Erdogan so earnestly seeks to revive… AMEN…
The Europeans, esp. the Germans, kept scuttling Turkey joining the EU. That helped fuels the Erdogan rise.
Erdogan has played on-off again with the Russians and is consistently feuding with the Saudis. He also fueled some of his rise by vilifying the Israelis, who were long a pal to secular Turkey.
The Israelis have been measured, but allied themselves with Putin and with Greece at times to pressure Erdogan.
Erdogan has also tacitly supported attacks on US naval personnel and diplomatic officers.
Syria has been a gaping wound for Turkey, bringing confrontation with the US and Russia, massive humanitarian problems and now an emboldened Kurdish movement, which the military governments had effectively quashed.
Erdogan has been focused on building indigenous defense industrial base, out of balance with the overall economics, an Asian Tiger Model. The Turks can’t seem to get reliable advanced manufacturing such as turbines, but can build decent airframe components and are on their way to small aircraft carriers.
As for the regret, the unwashed masses in Turkey are now seeing the results of politization/Islamization of the technocracy and some of the blatant cronyism of state-owned enterprises. The flight of capital over the last few years is the private enterprise offshoring cash before something big happens.
Erdogan is a potential Hitler, and Turkey has the potential to be the most dangerous enemy we could end up facing. They have one of the largest and most powerful militaries in the world, equipped with Western technology. They are in a prime geographical position, have a huge amount of natural resources, and a very large population. Unlike China or Russia, both of whom I believe will do what’s in their own best interests to avoid what would likely be WWIII, I think that Erdogan has inspired an imperialistic ultranationalism that actually WOULD be willing to try and establish a new Turkish empire. Plus, the rest of NATO is back to thinking that Neville Chamberlain had it right when dealing with Hitler. Erdogan will have to invade Greece or Bulgaria before the West does anything about it.
Turkey has issued its own counter-ultimatum: you are either with us or with the terrorists.
In response to yesterday’s threat by Vice President Mike Pence putting Turkey on notice to either scrap the S-400 deal with Russia or say goodbye to the Lockheed F-35, Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay tweeted, “The United States must choose. Does it want to remain Turkey’s ally or risk our friendship by joining forces with terrorists to undermine its NATO ally’s defense against its enemies?”
While Turkey’s VP didn’t specify which “terrorists” the US would be taking sides with as part of his response, there’s little doubt this was a reference to Syrian Kurdish militias which has also been the source of tensions given ongoing US support to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) just across Turkey’s border with Syria. Over the past year Washington has repeatedly warned against Turkish forces foraying deeper into Syria to fight Syrian Kurdish militants.
Both the US and Turkish Vice Presidents publicly sparring this week will likely only harden Erdogan in his position. Turkey again reminded the world last Friday that, “We have signed a deal with Russia, and this deal is valid. Now we are discussing the delivery process,” according to words from the foreign ministry on Friday after he came out of a meeting with his Russian counterpart FM Lavrov.
He added that “We have an agreement with Russia and we are bound by it.” The first Russian S-400 delivery is expected in July.
Both last week President Erdogan and Turkish officials have remained unwavering in declaring “it’s a done deal” in the face of US threats.
A month ago Erdogan even colorfully told a Turkish broadcaster during an interview that, “There can never be a turning back. This would not be ethical, it would be immoral. Nobody should ask us to lick up what we spat.”
My take: As stated above, Erdogan would like to revive the Ottoman Empire. Stunts like this test the waters to see what he can get away with. Expect more shenanigans.
Its all to distract from the fact the Turkish economy is taking a dump and the people are no longer blindly following him on his delusional trips of grandeur.
See latest elections.
Though me thinks that turd wont go down quietly.
How Turkey has remained in NATO is beyond me. I mean, I know they were anti-Soviet and NATO really needed them for geopolitical reasons, but they’ve become increasingly hostile against the west/US and have openly threatened their NATO “allies”. Erdogan is a douche who manipulates the media, destroyed their economy, and has an overly-inflated sense of self.