US Questions Turkey's NATO Membership

John Bolton, former national security adviser to 45th US President Donald Trump, has expressed that Turkey's NATO membership could be placed in doubt in 2023, given the Turkish authorities' unpreparedness to adopt a firm anti-Russian stance regarding the Ukraine conflict. This was reported by TASS.

According to Bolton, in the coming months, 'the unity and resolve of the West' will be put to the test. He wrote in an article published in The Daily Telegraph on Monday evening, 'Finland and Sweden have made the astonishing decision to join NATO, but Russia's trade and military partners have yet to abandon it in its time of need, unfortunately, including Turkey, whose membership in NATO should be questioned in 2023 if President Erdoğan (presumably through fraud) is re-elected (scheduled elections in June).'

He also noted that Germany's announcements regarding intentions to increase defense spending have yet to be realized. 'Germany's regular defense budget in 2023 will be lower than in 2022,' Bolton stated, adding that the €100 billion allocated from a special fund for the Bundeswehr has not yet been utilized for the modernization of weapons and military equipment.

Simultaneously, Trump's former aide pointed out that the prolongation of the conflict in Ukraine will contribute to the rise of discontent in the West.

Earlier, Turkey's official representative, Ibrahim Kalin, stated that NATO membership and allied relations with the US do not prevent Turkey from maintaining constructive relations with Russia. 'Turkey's participation in the NATO bloc and the existence of allied relations with the US do not prevent us from maintaining good relations with Russia. Our priority is to ensure peace, stability, and prosperous zones in our region and beyond. While guided by this and maintaining a traditional line in foreign policy, we are simultaneously expanding the horizons of foreign policy with new approaches,' he said in an interview with Kriter magazine's January issue.

Kalin added that Turkey's participation in the North Atlantic Alliance is also not an obstacle to the development of cooperation with China, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America.