Security analyst Shay Gal (@ShayGal84) argues that Turkey has increasingly become a “net strategic liability” for NATO, despite remaining a formal member of the military alliance.
According to Gal, Ankara is developing a more independent security and foreign policy architecture that increasingly operates beyond NATO’s traditional strategic framework.
NATO Is Paying Turkey Not to Become What It Already Is
A Line of State statecraft note at @tovimacom.
Turkey is strategically external and institutionally internal: it builds security beyond NATO while retaining access, intelligence and blocking power within it.
It… pic.twitter.com/MdFX6AH6ek
— Shay Gal שי גל (@ShayGal84) September 4, 2026
He points to Turkey’s acquisition of Russian defence systems, its relations with Iran, expanding security cooperation with countries such as Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, and its reported interest in deeper ties with the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
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Gal argues that these developments should prompt NATO members to reconsider their strategic dependence on Turkey and assess Ankara’s evolving role within the Alliance.
“The question is no longer how to keep Turkey in NATO,” Gal concludes. “It is whether NATO should keep Turkey at all.”
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