Key Nato posts go to pro-Russia hardliners in new Turkish purge | News | The Times & The Sunday Times
Turkey is replacing pro-western military officers in diplomatic and Nato posts in London and across Europe with pro-Russian hardliners, sources have claimed. Their accounts are backed by a leaked email seen by
The Times.
The purge comes in the aftermath of a failed coup against President Erdogan over the summer, and raises fears that the ability of the Nato alliance to function is being weakened, which would be a victory for President Putin.
Turkish officers recently dismissed from critical roles within Nato have written to General Curtis Scaparrotti, the alliance’s top commander, warning that “ultra-nationalists” are on the ascendant in Turkey’s military, according to the leaked email. “I and my Turkish colleagues observe a considerable rise of ultra-nationalist, anti-western sentiments within our military and throughout our state departments,” a senior Turkish officer and Nato commander wrote last week. “It is very worrying to witness that some of the newcomers from Turkey to Nato have a radical mindset, some question the values of Nato and even hate western organisations while holding pro-Russia-China-Iran sentiments.” The ousted officer noted the “deliberate attrition of western-minded, egalitarian, secular, politically non-biased, honest and successful officers”, amid growing fears that Turkey’s post-coup purges have wounded Nato at a time when it faces a newly aggressive Russia.
At least two senior officers in the Turkish defence attaché’s office at the embassy in London were ordered back to Turkey after the July coup attempt, according to a former Nato official. Both sought advice from British military counterparts about the possibility of claiming asylum in the UK because they feared arrest if they returned home, the former official said. “They were s*** scared,” he added. It is not known what happened to the officers..........
A shift by Mr Erdogan away from the West and towards Russia and China could damage the effectiveness of Nato, which relies on consensus among all 28 allies to make any decision, the former senior alliance official said. “From a European liberal, democratic perspective the whole country is going backwards and from a Nato perspective the whole country is becoming very unreliable. It’s a problem, a huge problem. It seriously complicates Nato doing anything and getting its act together.”.........
General Scaparrotti, Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, admitted after a meeting of Nato foreign ministers this week that his allied command operations had lost half its strength when 150 Turkish military personnel were purged. His comments prompted a furious reaction in the Turkish press, with some accusing him of supporting Fethullah Gulen, the cleric accused of orchestrating the failed coup.
Nato members send hundreds of officers to fill jobs at the alliance’s headquarters in Brussels and elsewhere in Europe. They serve two or three-year deployments and each officer is vetted by his or her country, meaning that Nato is unable to turn away anyone deemed suitable for service by a member state........