Grey Wolves and NATO

Question

''In the late 1970s, former military prosecutor and Turkish Supreme Court Justice Emin Değer documented collaboration between the Grey Wolves, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and Counter-Guerrilla, the Turkish stay-behind anti-communist organization organised under NATO's Operation Gladio, a plan for guerrilla warfare in case of a communist takeover.''

This is from Wikipedia so it's safe to say that we have a rock-solid evidence that back in the day, ties with ''The West'' (They call it ''The West'' in Turkey when they refer to America, Canada and Europe) and Turkish nationalists were pretty decent. I would even say that NATO and especially USA were funding the Grey Wolves generously to oppose the communist threat:

''Martin Lee writes that the Counter-Guerrilla supplied weapons to the Grey Wolves,[6] while according to Tim Jacoby, the CIA transferred guns and explosives to Grey Wolves units through an agent in the 1970s.''

There weren't any major crisis with the Europe and USA. Turkey even managed to join the NATO in 1952 when Democrat Party was ruling, a central-right party.

But there is a problem, you see: AKP (Justice And Development Party) and MHP (Nationalist Movement Party) are working together day and night to oppose and rival ''The West''. They are always using the same sentences like parrots ''They won't break our unity! They are sabotaging our economy!'' He also created the Brunson Crisis and the S-400 and F-35 debate. What is going on? Why the right-wing population of Turkey are in much-hatred against ''The West''? What changed?

Answer 1

Question:

What is going on? Why the right-wing population of Turkey are in much-hatred against ''The West''? What changed?

Short Answer:

While Turkey remains a valued NATO ally, a lot has changed. The latest issue is how the United States has responded to the purchase of the Russian S-400 missiles. That placed US national security at risk and thus forced the US hand. Turkey will unlikely be able to get delivery of the F-35 beyond some fence mending. Not clear Turkey is interested in mending the fence however.

Detailed Answer:

Turkey which remains an important NATO ally, has been changing for decades.

• Turkey did not support the United States in the second gulf War. Turkey denied the US the ability to use their territory as a corridor to invade Northern Iraq. The U.S blew that off.
• Turkey turned away from their roots as a secular government and elected a Islamic party to run the country, headed by President Erdogan The U.S. blew that off.
• During a State visit by President Erdogan to the United States, his security detailed jumped from moving cars to engage and beat-up peaceful demonstrators on the streets of the United States Capital on live TV. Prompting their US State Dept minders to advise the Security detail to drive to the airport and fly out of the country before the local District of Columbia police could arrest them. - Americans covered their faces with the palms of their hands over this one, watching the TV news that evening of young men punch and kick elderly protesters. The US pretty much did nothing in response.
• After the United States withdrew many of its troops from Syria, Turkey invaded Syria and started massacring Kurds, US allies, who were very helpful to the US in Iraq and Syria. Ultimately prompting the United States to return some forces into Syria - The United States raised an eyebrow over that, redeployed some US forces, but pretty much blew that off too.

The strongest US reaction to Turkey has been over their purchase of the Russian ground-to-air Anti Aircraft S-400 missile systems. The United States informed Turkey prior to the purchase that this would jeopardize the delivery of US F-35 fighter aircraft Turkey was soon to receive. Turkish President Erdogan, responded that he believed the S-400 was a superior system to the US competitor, coupled with the favorable price Turkey received from Russia; President Erdogan pursued the purchase despite US objections. From the United States perspective this was a pretty big deal. The F-35 is a stealth fighter whose survivability is tied to the inability of systems like the S-400 to get a missiles lock on it. The S-400 can detect it but like the F-22 it is not able to get a reliable lock on the F-35 to successfully engage it. The US believes if the transfers of the F-35's went through and they were flying under near constant presence of the turkish S-400 AA batteries, Russia could study the data and gain insight into defeating the F-35's stealth ability. So the US blocked the transfers of the aircraft.

From Comments

@ThomasKoelle Turkey could not get NATO membership today?, Nuclear Weapons being removed from Turkey, all supposition. Turkey remains a democracy, beyond that however; being a democracy has never been a prerequisite for being a valued American ally. cough cough Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, Emirates, and Djibouti !

ThomasKoelle Turkey could not get NATO membership today?, Nuclear Weapons being removed from Turkey, That's all supposition. None of that is reported Fact. What is fact is Turkey is a valued NATO member due to:

• History,
• Common interests
• Economy
• Geography

Turkey remains a democracy, beyond that; being a democracy has never been a prerequisite for being a valued American ally. see Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, Emirates, and Djibouti.