Turkey’s membership in NATO should be called into question in 2023 due to the country’s unwillingness to take a tough stance on Russia and the conflict in Ukraine, according to former US National Security Advisor John Bolton, the Euroweekly news website reported, citing an article published in The Telegraph.
In the coming months, Bolton said he believed that “the unity and determination of the West will be truly tested in practice. Finland and Sweden have made the stunning decision to join NATO, but Russia’s trade and military partners have not yet abandoned it in its hour of need.”
“Unfortunately, this includes Turkey, whose NATO membership should be in doubt in 2023 if President Recep Tayyip Erdogan – probably through fraud – will be re-elected in the elections scheduled for June.“
Turkey has good relations with its two Black Sea neighbors — Vladimir Putin’s Russia and Ukraine and has conducted a diplomatic balancing act throughout the conflict.
Turkey has refrained from joining Western sanctions against Russia.
Erdoğan is keen to boost trade with Moscow as he tries to stabilize the battered Turkish economy in the run-up to elections in June.