NATO Summit: A Test of Turkey's Stance

The 36th NATO Heads of State and Government Summit will be held in Ankara, hosted by our country, on Tuesday, July 7, and Wednesday, July 8. We will see what emerges after the praise directed at Turkey ahead of this summit, which will determine the fate of both the region and our country. The statement by the US president that he will come with gift packages that will please Tayyip Erdoğan already raises many questions.

Among the topics to be discussed at the summit are the defense industry, new security strategies, increased military spending, support for Ukraine, and the Cyprus issue. The occupation of our Aegean islands by Greece, a NATO member, is not on the agenda. NATO countries support the PKK terrorist organization, which works to divide our country. Many NATO member states have passed laws in their parliaments regarding the so-called Armenian genocide. The withdrawal of Turkish troops from Cyprus and the unification of Turkish Cypriots and Greeks into a single state are advocated. The US, in particular, is imposing an arms embargo on our country.

NATO's, and consequently the US's, demands are endless; while we guard the Black Sea, we will also deploy troops at the multinational corps headquarters to be established in Adana and guard the Middle East. Furthermore, our contribution to the common defense budget will be increased from 2% to 5%, and NATO will decide how this budget will be used. Given all the negative aspects are clearly evident, trusting NATO, the global control power of US imperialism, is recklessness, perversion, and even treason.

The preparations and extraordinary security measures implemented in Ankara, the capital of the Republic of Turkey founded by fighting imperialism, even before the NATO summit began, have been transformed into an oppressive regime that restricts fundamental rights and freedoms. Democratic rights were curtailed, public spaces were narrowed, some roads were closed, and public employees were granted administrative leave. Many people's homes were raided, and many people were arrested on the possibility of protesting the NATO summit. Critical media outlets were prevented from covering the summit, out of fear of the questions journalists might ask. During this period, all kinds of meetings and demonstrations were banned.

Turkey's continued membership in NATO, which does not represent a democratic and free world, offers no benefit to our country. It is clear that all material and political adversities against Turkey originate from NATO countries. When the time comes, when conditions are ripe, and when our country reaches a certain level of political, military, and economic power, it should withdraw from this imperialist organization.

At a time when the world needs peace, not armament, the future of the world is being mortgaged with a NATO meeting at the behest of imperialist US. In our country, opposition parties were more concerned with the measures taken than the purpose of the meeting. Özgür Özel, who criticized the measures taken for the summit and the arrests, said, "Things that befit Erdoğan, not Ankara, are happening. It's a strange state of emergency where people are causing hardship for their own citizens and closing down Parliament, public institutions, and streets just because foreign leaders are coming." While essentially correct, the purpose of the summit and its potential outcomes need to be addressed. For those who are committed to NATO and the EU, it becomes clear that rhetoric or show is more important than the purpose.

For Özgür Özel and his supporters, who are waiting for a special day to form a new party, there is a Greek idiom "ná’to kefalí, ná’to mármarothere's the head, there's the marblenato kafa, nato mermer

Suay Karaman