{"id":1401803,"date":"2023-08-14T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-14T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1401803"},"modified":"2023-08-14T06:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-08-14T10:00:00","slug":"turkiye-quietly-renounces-nato-links-but-not-nato-benefits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/turkiye-quietly-renounces-nato-links-but-not-nato-benefits\/1401803\/","title":{"rendered":"T\u00fcrkiye Quietly Renounces NATO Links, But Not NATO Benefits"},"content":{"rendered":"

T\u00fcrkiye Quietly Renounces NATO Links, But Not NATO Benefits<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Authored by Gregory Copley via The Epoch Times<\/a> (emphasis ours),<\/em><\/p>\n

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (R) greets Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for a NATO summit at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) headquarters in Brussels, on June 14, 2021. (Francois Mori\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

T\u00fcrkiye on Aug. 3, made its most pointed renunciation of its ties to NATO.<\/strong><\/p>\n

President Re\u00e7ep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan, who was sworn into office again on June 2, re-structured his Armed Forces leadership, removing all leaders who had held NATO appointments.<\/p>\n

T\u00fcrkiye, as a result, has stopped attempting to balance its NATO membership off against its commitments to Russia. It has, de facto<\/em>, now thrown in its lot with Eurasia.<\/p>\n

The new appointments come amidst a crisis in the Turkish Armed Forces which have seen, in recent years, a marked decline in the professionalism of key officers. <\/strong>President Erdo\u011fan has favored political loyalty to him over operational experience, often replacing professional military leaders with Gendarmerie<\/em> (Jendarma<\/em>) generals.<\/p>\n

The Turkish Supreme Military Council (Y\u00fcksek Asker\u00ee \u015e\u00fbra:<\/em> YA\u015e) met on Aug. 3, at the Presidential Palace under the chairmanship of President Erdo\u011fan, with the main focus on the annual reviews of the senior officers of the Turkish Armed Forces (T\u00fcrk Silahl\u0131 Kuvvetleri:<\/em> TSK). Before the meeting, and in accordance with protocol, the president accompanied members of the YA\u015e to the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atat\u00fcrk, where he laid a wreath and signed the Official Book, in which, after praising the r\u00f4le of the Armed Forces, referred to the new strategic goal of the country as the \u201cCentury of Turkey,\u201d promising \u201can increase in the strength of the army.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cCentury of Turkey\u201d plan, which includes the \u201cBlue Homeland\u201d doctrine, specifically targets the interests of Greece. <\/strong>Senior officers were promoted who were known for their anti-Western profile and who were involved in the contrived 2017 \u201cErgenekon\u201d and 2013 \u201cVarioupoula\u201d purge scandals.<\/p>\n

A new Chief of General Staff was appointed, along with a new Chief of Land Forces (GH) and a new Chief of Air Force (THK), while the Chief of Naval Forces (TDK) remained in his position. The new Chief of the General Staff was the former 2nd Army Commander, Gen. Metin G\u00fcrak, who replaced Gen. Yasar G\u00fcler, who was appointed Defense Minister in the new Government in June 2023.<\/p>\n

Deputy Chief of General Staff Gen. Sel\u00e7uk Bayraktaro\u011flu was named as commander of land forces. Chief of Air Force and Anti-Aircraft Missile Defence Gen. Ziya Cemal Kado\u0131\u011flu was named commander of the Air Force (T\u00fcrk Hava Kuvvetleri:<\/em> THK). Adm. E. Tatlio\u011flu, the chief of the South-Western Command, remained in his position.<\/p>\n

During the meeting, 32 senior officers were promoted and 63 officers of the rank of colonel or equivalent became senior officers. It was decided to increase the number of senior officers by 20 to reach 286, to fill administrative positions, as many new Brigade and especially commando-level formations had been created.<\/p>\n

Gen. G\u00fcrak became the first Chief of General Staff to be appointed without prior service as a chief of a service branch. This requirement had been dropped by President Erdo\u011fan to give him more flexibility in appointing loyalists to the top posts. None of the newly appointed chiefs have served in NATO or other Western countries\u2019 posts or schools, despite the fact that, in the TSK, officers with NATO experience had been highly regarded.<\/p>\n

The Chief of General Staff, Gen. G\u00fcrak, does have operational experience.<\/strong> From his service with the 2nd Armored Brigade of the 1st Army (Istanbul) and as Commander of the Army Air Force and the 4th Army Corps (Ankara), he is familiar with the operational plans concerning the \u00c6gean and Thrace. He served as an adviser in Libya when Turkey established military bases and supported Islamist forces against Cairo-backed Gen. Khalifa Haftar.<\/p>\n

Gen. G\u00fcrak speaks Arabic, considered important at a time when Erdo\u011fan is investing in relations with the rich Arab countries of the Gulf. He took a controversial stance on the night of the July 15, 2016, \u201ccoup attempt\u201d as commander of the 4th Army Corps and Ankara Fortress, and was appreciated by Erdo\u011fan for the assistance of the 2nd Army units in the earthquakes of February 2023, since the affected regions were in his area of responsibility.<\/p>\n

The new Air Force Chief has neither NATO nor any particular operational experience. He is, however, considered an extreme nationalist. He was also involved on the night of the \u201ccoup attempt,\u201d at the Air Operations Center (in Eski\u015fehir).<\/strong><\/p>\n

President Erdo\u011fan also conducted another purge of the Police-Security Directorate in early August 2023, again favoring political loyalists over professional and operationally-experienced officers: 52 out of a total of 81 prefectural directors, who were considered loyal to former Interior Minister S\u00fcleyman Soylu, were removed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nMon, 08\/14\/2023 – 02:00<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/markets\/turkiye-quietly-renounces-nato-links-not-nato-benefits<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

T\u00fcrkiye Quietly Renounces NATO Links, But Not NATO Benefits Authored by Gregory Copley via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (R)…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1401803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1401803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1401803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1401803\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1401803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1401803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1401803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}