'NATO leaves Turkey alone in fight against terrorism'

By Sinan Uslu

ANKARA (AA) - NATO leaves Ankara alone in its fight against terrorism, a Turkish security specialist told Anadolu Agency.

"NATO has failed in coordinating the security priorities of its member states and left Turkey alone in its fight against terrorist organizations such as PKK and FETO," Murat Aslan, an academic at Hasan Kalyoncu University, said on Friday.

Like any other NATO countries, Aslan said Turkey took side with the U.S. when it declared war against terrorism, but it was a "debatable" topic how European countries and the U.S. reflected their will on Turkey's security problems.

He added a problem occurred when the EU member countries -- which make up majority of NATO -- took a common position against Turkey while losing their objectivity.

"For example, it becomes accustomed for NATO members in the EU to leave Turkey alone during unfair sovereignty violations by Greece and Greek Cypriot Administration," Aslan said.

He said NATO’s preference of staying “passive” while calling on parties to calm, turns collective security into “collective silence”.

Aslan believed that Turkey would rather stand on its own legs while ensuring its security instead of relying on NATO.

"Undoubtedly, NATO is a deterrent unity and a security guarantee for member states. However, Turkey wants to benefit from security guarantee like all member countries and demands avoidance of double standards," he added.

Aslan said NATO's collective security should not be turned into Turkey’s "individual insecurity".