Turkey may leave NATO in five to six months, deputy leader of the Patriotic Party ‘Vatan Partisi’ Ethem Sancak said on Wednesday.
However, President Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party ‘AK Party’ spokesman, Omer Celik negated the statement.
President Erdogan’s spokesperson says Turkey will not leave NATO
“We face such things in every election,” Celik said in an interview on CNN Turk, referring to the calls for terminating Turkey’s membership of NATO.
“These are not the things that we will worry about. Those who call for terminating Turkey’s membership in NATO do not talk sense. This is out of the question. We are one of the founding countries of NATO. They have no right to say such things. What they say would be a luxury for NATO,” he added.
Ethem Sancak, the deputy leader of the Turkish Motherland Party, had earlier on Wednesday warned that Turkey’s provocation of Ankara may cause it to leave NATO in the next five to six months.
“The developments prompt us to take such steps. NATO is making us do so with its provocations. They have been seeking to contrast us to our neighbor Turkey. They have been trying to get us caught in the Middle East crossfire. Finally, you can see campaigns against the Quran in Sweden and the Netherlands,” the Aydinlik newspaper quoted him.
Sancak referred to recent polls that revealed over 80% of the Turkish population believe that “the United States is a country pursuing the most hostile and destructive policy” towards Turkey. Sancak noted that “lately the Turkish people began to take a liking towards Russia and Putin.”
The Motherland Party had announced a ‘Let’s Leave Nato’ campaign
The Motherland Party declared the initiation of the Let’s Leave NATO campaign on January 19 in order to pressure the government into leaving the alliance. The political movement intends to set up desks in public spaces in a number of cities as part of this campaign to gather signatures on pertinent petitions.
Additionally, it will stage protests and rallies against NATO bases in Turkey. Dogu Perincek, the leader of the Motherland Party, claimed that “a strong NATO means a strong threat to Turkey.”
The Rodina party has a history of supporting anti-American sentiment. It had already urged Turkey’s government to terminate US military sites there, revoke its proposal to buy American F-16 fighter jets, and leave NATO.
