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Comment by mtgx | Hacker News Reader

The question is, will America turn against Turkey, too, or are the threats to exclude them out of NATO just empty ones?

It will also be interesting to see if the EU will condemn this "democratic regime" they were so quick to defend after the coup.

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The president of the European Parliament followed up his "we support the democratically elected government" tweet with another tweet condemning that same government's actions following the failed coup, so that already happened.

I'm also not sure how realistic losing Turkey as a NATO member is. They are in a strategic position that makes it worth to put up with most of their nonsense.

They are well on their well to caliphate that will be a hotbed for anti-western sentiment/anti-secular sentiment, so I fail to see how they are a strategic partner.

As long as they control the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus Strait their strategic position remains very valuable.

It's 2016 - Russia is not the enemy in a world of extremism.

Granted you can legitimately harp on Russia for free speech/human rights abuses, but America is no shining example here either. America is fraying, because it's largely ruled by its own set of oligarchs and the marginalized populations are lashing out.

This feels like Old World thinking.

I think you may be underestimating just how Old the World is.

> The question is, will America turn against Turkey, too, or are the threats to exclude them out of NATO just empty ones?

Mostly empty, USA (and the EU) needs Turkey for various reasons. Turkey could unleash floods of refugees into the EU if pissed off and USA needs its bases in Turkey. That's effective power. Erdogan can basically do whatever he wants right now.

This is not an option for America. They stand at a disadvantage position due to their behaviour.

THe inclirk aribase has 60 nuclear missiles which is cruicial for NATO to maintain its influence (a.k.a. hegemony) in the region.

Actually, most if not all of those bombs are considered obsolete/decomissioned [1] and aren't an actual first or second weapon of choice if someone decides that a nuke is needed. So these weapons are far from being "crucial for NATO"...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/17/turkey-coup-...

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