Turkey: What Is the Real Terrorist Threat?
by Burak Bekdil • September 5, 2022 at 5:00 am
Erdoğan said that Turkey would freeze Finland and Sweden's NATO membership bids if the Nordic countries do not come into line with Turkey's "fight against terrorist organizations."
That might be a tough task for Finland and Sweden. In 2019, Erdoğan notoriously called half of Turks (those who do not vote for him) terrorists. The same year, Erdoğan declared the pro-Kurdish People's Democracy Party a terrorist entity. In parliamentary elections in June 2015, that party won 13% of the national vote and 80 seats in the Turkish parliament. Nevertheless, in 2021, Erdoğan stated that the students who peacefully protested his appointment of a rector to Boğaziçi University were "terrorists."
If Sweden and Finland do not fight wholeheartedly everyone Erdoğan deems a terrorist, does that mean he will veto their membership?
Kavala was acquitted on all charges but, as Erdoğan publicly insists that he is a "traitor," he was not released from prison. Upon his acquittal, a prosecutor instantly produced a new indictment against him.
The West should tell Erdoğan it is ISIS, not men like Kavala, that is the terror threat to civilization.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's ideological family tree is inherently anti-Western-- hence, anti-US and anti-NATO. This author's most recent article, "NATO Family Picture in Madrid: This Will Not Be Erdoğan's Last Blackmail," was posted on July 7. Only 11 days later, on July 18, Erdoğan said that Turkey would freeze Finland and Sweden's NATO membership bids if the Nordic countries do not come into line with Turkey's "fight against terrorist organizations."
