Turkey In NATO
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Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
has been a member of
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
since 1952, has its second largest army and is the host of the
Allied Land Command Allied Land Command (LANDCOM) formerly Allied Land Forces South-Eastern Europe (LANDSOUTHEAST) is the standing headquarters for NATO land forces which may be assigned as necessary. The Commander LANDCOM is the primary land warfare advisor to Su ...
headquarters. The Incirlik and Konya Airbases have both been involved in several
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
military operations since their establishment. The current Ambassador to NATO is Basat Öztürk.


Background

Turkey sought to become a member of NATO because it wanted a security guarantee against a potential invasion by the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
, which made several overtures towards control of the Straits of the Dardanelles. In March 1945, the Soviets terminated the Treaty of Friendship and Non Aggression to which the Soviet Union and Turkey had agreed on in 1925.Aydin, Mustafa (2000).p.107 In June 1945, the Soviets demanded the establishment of Soviet bases on the Straits in exchange for a reinstatement of this treaty. The Turkish President Ismet Inönu and the Speaker of the Parliament responded decisively, avowing Turkey's readiness to defend itself.


Accession

In 1948, Turkey began indicating its desire for NATO membership, and throughout 1948 and 1949 American officials responded negatively towards Turkish requests for inclusion. In May 1950, during Ismet Inönü's presidency, Turkey made its first formal accession bid, which was denied by the NATO member states. In August the same year and just days after Turkey pledged a Turkish contingent for the
Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
, a second bid was made. After the
Under Secretary of State Under Secretary of State (U/S) is a title used by senior officials of the United States Department of State who rank above the Assistant Secretaries and below the Deputy Secretary. From 1919 to 1972, the Under Secretary was the second-ranking of ...
Dean Acheson Dean Gooderham Acheson (pronounced ; April 11, 1893October 12, 1971) was an American statesman and lawyer. As the 51st U.S. Secretary of State, he set the foreign policy of the Harry S. Truman administration from 1949 to 1953. He was also Truman ...
coordinated with France and the United Kingdom in September 1950, the NATO command invited both Greece and Turkey to present their plans for an eventual defense cooperation. Turkey acceded, but expressed disappointment that full membership within NATO was not considered. Leffler, Melvyn P. (1985).pp. 821–822 When US bureaucrat George McGhee visited Turkey in February 1951, Turkish president Celal Bayar emphasized that Turkey expected a full membership, particularly after sending troops to the Korean War. Turkey wanted a security guarantee in case a conflict with the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
arose.Lippe, John M. Vander (2000),pp.95–96 After further evaluations taken at the NATO headquarters and by officials of the
Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
(CIA) and the US Military, it was decided in May 1951 to offer Turkey full membership. Leffler, Melvyn P. (1985).pp.822 – 824 The potential role Turkey could play in a war against the Soviet Union was seen as important for NATO. Throughout 1951, the US worked on convincing its fellow NATO allies of the advantages of Turkey's and Greece's membership within the alliance. In February 1952, Bayar signed the document confirming its accession.


NATO military bases in Turkey

Incirlik air base Incirlik Air Base ( tr, İncirlik Hava Üssü) is a Turkish air base of slightly more than 3320 ac (1335 ha), located in the İncirlik quarter of the city of Adana, Turkey. The base is within an urban area of 1.7 million people, east of t ...
has been a military air base since the 1950s and since then has gained more and more importance. It was built between 1951 and 1952 by US military contractors and has been in operation since 1955. In the base are stationed an estimated 50
nuclear weapon A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bom ...
s. The Konya airbase was established in 1983 and hosts AWACS surveillance jets for NATO. Since December 2012, the headquarters of NATO
Land Forces Land, also known as dry land, ground, or earth, is the solid terrestrial surface of the planet Earth that is not submerged by the ocean or other bodies of water. It makes up 29% of Earth's surface and includes the continents and various islan ...
has been located in
Buca Buca (, ) is a district of İzmir Province, Turkey. It is one of the main urban districts of İzmir Metropolitan Municipality. History Buca was one of the preferred settlement areas of İzmir's community of Levantines. The great mansions they bui ...
near
İzmir İzmir ( , ; ), also spelled Izmir, is a metropolitan city in the western extremity of Anatolia, capital of the province of the same name. It is the third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara and the second largest urban agglo ...
on the
Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea ; tr, Ege Denizi (Greek language, Greek: Αιγαίο Πέλαγος: "Egéo Pélagos", Turkish language, Turkish: "Ege Denizi" or "Adalar Denizi") is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It ...
. The
Allied Air Command The Allied Air Command (AIRCOM) is the central command of all NATO air and space forces and the Commander Allied Air Command is the prime air and space advisor to the Alliance. When directed by the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), it pro ...
for Southern Europe was also based in Buca between 2004 and 2013. Since 2012, the
Kürecik radar station Kürecik Radar Station ( tr, Kürecik Radar Üssü) is a military installation located in the town of in Malatya Province, southeastern Turkey. It was established in 2012 for use by NATO as an early-warning radar against ballistic missile attac ...
located about 500 km from Iran, is in service as part of the
NATO missile defence system The NATO missile defense system is a missile defense system being constructed by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in several member states and around the Mediterranean Sea. Plans for this system have changed several times since first ...
.


NATO cooperation


Korea

The first military deployment in view to NATO was in the Korean War from July 1950 onwards.Lippe, John M. Vander (2000),p.97 Turkey deployed 4500 soldiers to the
United Nations Command United Nations Command (UNC or UN Command) is the multinational military force established to support the South Korea, Republic of Korea (South Korea) during and after the Korean War. It was the first international unified command in history, an ...
in support of the South Koreans. The Turkish soldiers left a good impression with their American allies, who awarded them with the
Distinguished Unit Citation The Presidential Unit Citation (PUC), originally called the Distinguished Unit Citation, is awarded to units of the uniformed services of the United States, and those of allied countries, for extraordinary heroism in action against an armed enem ...
. While Turkey was not a member of NATO at the time, the troops were pledged in view of a potential NATO membership.


Afghanistan

Between 2001 and 2021, Turkey sent troops to NATO's involvement in Afghanistan. First into the
International Security Assistance Force ' ps, کمک او همکاري ' , allies = Afghanistan , opponents = Taliban Al-Qaeda , commander1 = , commander1_label = Commander , commander2 = , commander2_label = , commander3 = , comman ...
(ISAF) until 2014 and then also to the
Resolute Support Mission Resolute Support Mission (RSM) or Operation Resolute Support was a NATO-led multinational mission in Afghanistan. It began on 1 January 2015 as the successor to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which was completed on 28 Decem ...
between 2020 and 2021. After an
agreement Agreement may refer to: Agreements between people and organizations * Gentlemen's agreement, not enforceable by law * Trade agreement, between countries * Consensus, a decision-making process * Contract, enforceable in a court of law ** Meeting o ...
between the United States and the
Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...
for a withdrawal of US and NATO troops, they left from May 2021 onwards.


Syria

After the Syrian Civil War erupted, Turkey was provided with NATO assistance consisting of a Patriot air defense system in December 2012. The US sent two batteries and 400 soldiers while Germany and the Netherlands pledged modern weaponry for the system, meant against potential missiles strikes from Syria. Turkey also demanded a
no-fly zone A no-fly zone, also known as a no-flight zone (NFZ), or air exclusion zone (AEZ), is a territory or area established by a military power over which certain aircraft are not permitted to fly. Such zones are usually set up in an enemy power's te ...
in Syria, but this was not considered by NATO. The Netherlands withdrew their support in January 2015 and Germany and the United States the same year in August.


Operation Active Endeavour

After terrorist attacks against the Twin Towers on 11 September 2001, NATO launched
Operation Active Endeavour Operation Active Endeavour was a maritime operation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It operated in the Mediterranean Sea and was designed to prevent the movement of terrorists or weapons of mass destruction. It had collateral benefit ...
in the
Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...
to monitor the maritime traffic. The
Turkish navy The Turkish Naval Forces ( tr, ), or Turkish Navy ( tr, ) is the naval warfare service branch of the Turkish Armed Forces. The modern naval traditions and customs of the Turkish Navy can be traced back to 10 July 1920, when it was establi ...
participated in this operation.


Balkan Pact

The formation of the
Balkan Pact (1953) The Balkan Pact of 1953, officially known as the Agreement of Friendship and Cooperation, was a treaty signed by Greece, Turkey and Yugoslavia on 28 February 1953. It was signed in Ankara. The treaty was to act as a deterrence against Soviet expa ...
in 1954 by Turkey, Greece and Yugoslavia was initially objected to by Italy, who demanded that NATO to be consulted before other NATO members make new military agreements with Non-NATO countries. But the other members did not see this as necessary and the agreement was signed in
Bled Bled (; german: Veldes,''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 146. in older sources also ''Feldes'') is a town on Lake Bled in the Upper C ...
, in present-day Slovenia in August 1954.


Relations with NATO member states


Greece

Greece and Turkey entered the coalition together in 1952. Over the Cyprus dispute with Turkey, Greeces involvement in NATO diminished gradually, as in 1964 Greece withdrew troops and in 1974, the year of the
Turkish invasion of Cyprus The Turkish invasion of Cyprus began on 20 July 1974 and progressed in two phases over the following month. Taking place upon a background of Cypriot intercommunal violence, intercommunal violence between Greek Cypriots, Greek and Turkish ...
. It also withdrew from the military wing of NATO deeming it not worthy to exist if it could not find a solution to this conflict. In 1980 Greece returned. Turkey later saw allowing this to happen as a mistake, as Erdogan accused Greece of giving refuge to "terrorists".


United States

The United States is an important NATO ally with over a thousand military personnel stationed in Turkey. The ''North Atlantic Treaty Regarding the Status of Their Forces'' (SOFA) signed in 1952 and 1954 also granted NATO the right to build facilities in Turkey such as the Incirlik air base. As after the
Turkish invasion of Cyprus The Turkish invasion of Cyprus began on 20 July 1974 and progressed in two phases over the following month. Taking place upon a background of Cypriot intercommunal violence, intercommunal violence between Greek Cypriots, Greek and Turkish ...
in 1974, the USA imposed a weapons embargo because Turkey used military equipment produced in the US, and Turkey expelled all US military personnel except the ones involved in NATO activities. In 1978, the US lifted the weapon embargo. In 2017 Turkey objected to weapons deliveries by the US to
People's Defense Units The People's Defense Units (YPG), (YPG) ; ar, وحدات حماية الشعب, Waḥdāt Ḥimāyat aš-Šaʽb) also called People's Protection Units, is a mainly-Kurdish militia in Syria and the primary component of the Syrian Democr ...
(YPG) because it would violate NATO rules.


France

As in 2019 the United States decided to withdraw from northeast Syria and make way for Turkey to invade the area despite several NATO member states being opposed to a military operation, French President
Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France since 2017. ''Ex officio'', he is also one of the two Co-Princes of Andorra. Prior to his presidency, Macron served as Minister of Econ ...
called NATO brain-dead as he would have preferred better cooperation between NATO allies. The Turkish military operation was directed against the Peoples Defense Units (YPG) involved in the fight against the
Islamic State An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...
(IS). Macron alleged that Turkey should not expect support from NATO member states if the Turkish military operation was not halted. A diplomatic spat followed, with Recep Tayyip Erdogan asking Macron if he was brain-dead himself and France summoning the Turkish ambassador. The invasion ended after the Vice President of the United States came to an agreement with Turkey for a ceasefire in order to keep US troops involved in the fight against the Islamic state in safety. In May 2022, when Turkey discussed the possibiity of an additional incursion, the United States again warned against such an undertaking.


Baltic defense plan

NATO established a plan to defend the
Baltic states The Baltic states, et, Balti riigid or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term, which currently is used to group three countries: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, ...
after the Russian annexation of the Crimea in 2014. The plan was dubbed Eagle Defender, but was not implemented due to Turkish objections. Turkey wanted NATO officials to classify the
People's Defense Units The People's Defense Units (YPG), (YPG) ; ar, وحدات حماية الشعب, Waḥdāt Ḥimāyat aš-Šaʽb) also called People's Protection Units, is a mainly-Kurdish militia in Syria and the primary component of the Syrian Democr ...
(YPG) as a terrorist organization in exchange for its approval for the plan. In July 2020, Turkey withdrew its objection, and Eagle Defender was able to come into practice.


Nordic accession bids

When Finland and Sweden made their accession bids in April 2022, Turkey was the only NATO member to oppose their membership due to the harbouring of
Kurdistan Workers' Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK is a Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla movement, which historically operated throughout Kurdistan, but is now primarily based in the mountainous Kurdish-majority regions of south ...
(PKK) members that Turkey sees as terrorists. Diplomats of the two Nordic countries arrived in Ankara to negotiate, but the negotiations were not to the satisfaction of Erdogan, who was offended by the fact that the Syrian Kurdish politician
Salih Muslim Salih Muslim Muhammad (Kurmanji ku, Salih Muslim Mihemed, ar, صالح مسلم محمد, Ṣāliḥ Muslim Muḥammad) is the co-chairman of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the main party of the Autonomous Administration of North and East ...
was seen on
Sveriges Television Sveriges Television AB ("Sweden's Television Stock Company"), shortened to SVT (), is the Sweden, Swedish national public broadcasting, public television broadcaster, funded by a public service tax on personal income set by the Riksdag (national ...
the same day Nordic diplomats were in Ankara to negotiate.
Nationalist Movement Party The Nationalist Movement Party (alternatively translated as Nationalist Action Party; tr, Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi, MHP) is a Turkish far-right and ultranationalist political party. The group is often described as neo-fascist, and has been ...
(MHP) leader
Devlet Bahçeli Devlet Bahçeli (born 1 January 1948) is a Turkish politician, economist, former deputy prime minister, and current chairman of the far-right, ultranationalist Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). An academic in economics from Gazi University, B ...
suggested that a scenario in which Turkey would leave NATO should be considered an option. In late May 2022, opposition leader Kemal Kiliçdaroglu argued that if the accession row persisted, AKP and MHP would decide to close the Inçirlik Airbase, the
Republican People's Party The Republican People's Party ( tr, Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, , acronymized as CHP ) is a Kemalist and social-democratic political party in Turkey which currently stands as the main opposition party. It is also the oldest political party ...
(CHP) would also support it. At the end of May 2022, Turkey's Foreign Minister
Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu (; born 5 February 1968) is a Turkish diplomat and politician who has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey since 24 November 2015. He previously served in the same position from August 2014 to August 2015. He is ...
demanded that Sweden adapt their laws, if this had to be done in order to address Turkish security concerns.


See also

*
Foreign relations of Turkey Physically bridging Europe and Asia, Turkey is a secular country that has pursued a Western-oriented foreign policy.Robins, Philip. Turkey and the Middle East. London: Royal Institute of International Affairs and New York: Council on Foreign R ...
*
Foreign relations of NATO NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) maintains foreign relations with many non-member countries across the globe. NATO runs a number of programs which provide a framework for the partnerships between itself and these non-member nations, ...
*
Turkey–European Union relations Relations between the European Union (EU) and Turkey were established in 1959, and the institutional framework was formalised with the 1963 Ankara Agreement. Albeit not officially part of the European Union, Turkey is one of the EU's main partne ...
*
Russia–Turkey relations Russia–Turkey relations (russian: Российско–турецкие отношения; tr, Rusya–Türkiye ilişkileri) are the bilateral relations between Russia and Turkey and their antecedent states. Relations between the two are rat ...


References

{{NATO relations Military history of Turkey Turkey and NATO