A question now is whether Turkey should — or could — be either suspended or expelled from NATO. Strangely, perhaps, when NATO was formed at the outset of the Cold War in 1949 no mechanism was put in place to oust recalcitrant members. It seemed obvious to the 11 original members that they were all upright nations pursing the same goals and values. The fact that Turkey never lived up to this testimonial was overlooked — even when Turkey invaded Cyprus in 1974 — because of the large size of its military and its strategic position in containing the Soviet Union.
Erdoğan’s regime probably will avoid any censure from NATO now for similar reasons. The United States and other NATO partners still see Turkey as an essential bulwark against Moscow.
But for Europe, the outflow from the Syrian civil war means that Turkey is the indispensable partner in efforts to curb and control the flow of refugees from the war zone.
