Turkey is set to play a larger role in NATO as the U.S. scales back its European commitments, with President Trump confi...

Turkey is set to play a larger role in NATO as the U.S. scales back its European commitments, with President Trump confirmed to attend the NATO summit in Ankara on July 7-8, 2026. But a growing body of evidence raises serious questions about whether Turkey under Erdogan still shares the alliance's founding principles of democracy, individual liberty, and the rule of law. Erdogan's own words from his early political career have resurfaced as a warning. Running for Istanbul's mayoralty in 1994 under the Islamist Welfare Party, he declared that democracy was not his goal but merely a vehicle. That vehicle, critics say, has now served its purpose. Since the failed 2016 coup, which Erdogan called "a gift from God," his government has detained 390,000 people and convicted more than 126,000. The purge swept out over 130,000 public servants, including nearly a third of all Turkish judges and prosecutors and more than 24,000 military personnel. Arrests and trials are still ongoing as of 2026. The crackdown has moved beyond perceived coup sympathizers. Istanbul's mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who beat the AKP's candidate twice in 2019, was arrested and indicted in a move widely seen as political elimination. Mass protests followed. Erdogan dismissed them as "street terror." A court has since declared the main opposition CHP leader's chairmanship null and void, reinstating a figure seen as more favorable to Erdogan. Turkey's foreign minister Hakan Fidan has meanwhile sought a seat in Europe's security architecture, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer invited him to a Ukraine strategy meeting in London last year. Turkey is quietly realigning toward Europe even as its domestic political situation moves in the opposite direction. Deutsche Welle's correspondent Julia Hahn has publicly asked why Europe remains silent on Turkey's opposition crisis. The NATO summit in Ankara this July may be the last moment where European leaders can answer that question on Turkish soil. #Turkey #NATO #Erdogan