The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was formed in 1949. The alliance was originally formed to stave off the possibility of the Soviet Union annexing more of Europe. In 1952, Turkey and Greece were added to NATO. Greece left NATO in 1974 when Turkey invaded Cyprus and NATO did not react (Cyprus was not a member of NATO, so no response was triggered). Greece rejoined NATO in 1980. Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan<\/b> became President of Turkey in 2014 and has been moving Turkey toward an Islamic dictatorship since he took power.<\/p>\n
Yesterday The Hill<\/a> reported that President Erdogan has called on his foreign minister to banish 10 ambassadors from Western countries, including the United States, after they called for the \u201curgent release\u201d of a Turkish philanthropist, Reuters reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n The article reports:<\/p>\n Earlier this week, ambassadors from the embassies\u00a0of 10 countries called on a resolution for the case of Osman Kavala, who has been in prison for several years after facing charges both in 2013 and 2016 for allegedly financially backing the 2013 protests and for his supposed involvement in a 2016 attempted coup.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Those charges have been disputed by Kavala, and he was originally absolved of his 2013-related charges; however, earlier this year, the 2013-charges were reinstated along with charges from the 2016 incident, according to Reuters.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cToday marks four years since the ongoing detention of Osman Kavala began. The continuing delays in his trial, including by merging different cases and creating new ones after a previous acquittal, cast a shadow over respect for democracy, the rule of law and transparency in the Turkish judiciary system,\u201d according to a statement<\/a>\u00a0issued on Monday through the U.S. Embassy in Turkey.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cTogether, the embassies of Canada, France, Finland, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and the United States of America believe a just and speedy resolution to his case must be in line with Turkey\u2019s international obligations and domestic laws,\u201d the statement continued. \u201cNoting the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights on the matter, we call for Turkey to secure his urgent release.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Erdo\u011fan claimed in his speech Saturday that the countries will \u201cknow and understand Turkey,\u201d adding that \u201cthe day they do not know and understand Turkey, they will leave,” according to Reuters.<\/strong><\/p>\n This is something to watch to see if President Erdogan’s actions have an impact on Turkey’s relationship with NATO. Since becoming President, Erdogan has drawn closer to the Muslim world and pretty much cut his friendly ties to Israel. I truly believe that it is President Erdogan’s intent to reestablish the caliphate that was the Ottoman Empire (with Turkey at the head). That will be interesting as Iran also plans to reestablish that caliphate with Iran at the head. Stay tuned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was formed in 1949. The alliance was originally formed to stave off the possibility of the Soviet Union annexing more of Europe. In 1952, Turkey and Greece were added to NATO. Greece left NATO … Continue reading