What a biased interview, I can't believe my eyes.

Submitted by HGE (Turkey), Sep 5, 2022 at 07:19

Mr. Pipes,

I appreciate your enthousiasm and some of your critical standpoints against Turkey, but your interview and opinions are biased.

Regarding your first answer; claiming that NATO will be as strong without its 5th biggest contributor to the military ops and 8th biggest contributor to the Alliance's budget is hands down wrong. Turkish army may not be as strong in the past, however it is still a prominent power in terms of battlefield experience, human resources and military capabilities. ...

Regarding your second answer, I appreciate your efforts to take some words out on context, the debate on the Aegean Islands is mainly based on breaking the agreement on the unarmed status of the mentioned islands. If you are not aware on that agreement, please refer to Lausanne Treaty of 1923 and Paris Treaty of 1947 which once again confirmed the abovementioned unarmed status. I am ready to accompany you to these islands for you to see the violation of the international agreements at first hand.

You are claiming that Erdogan is a bully that acts illogically but also everything he does is tactical. ...

Normalizing environment in the Middle Eastern region has been an ongoing phenomenon since a couple years and it is not only Turkey that tries to normalize with its neighbouring regions, but also the other countries are also following the same policy after the US military presence and effect has considerably decreased in the last years.

I am not going to get into the debate regarding the Turkey's purchase of Russian air defence systems with you. But please note that, Turkey's NATO allies did not want to sell the much needed systems Turkey demanded. This was a last resort for the country. Turkey's own integrity and national security precedes its obligations to the Alliance. Same thing can be said for every member. ...

NATO 2.0 (LOL) is the most quixotical idea I have ever witnessed in recent times. Even more than Erdogan's own islamist agenda. ...

Regards

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".