Majority of Germans want Turkey kicked out of NATO: survey

Authored by dw.com and submitted by viva_la_vinyl
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A majority of Germans believe that Turkey should be expelled from NATO over Ankara's military offensive in northern Syria that began in October, according to a survey released on Tuesday.

The YouGov survey, commissioned by news agency dpa, interviewed over 2,000 adult Germans between October 25 and 28 and found that that 58% believe Turkey should be removed from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the intergovernmental military alliance of 29 European and North American countries. Only 18% were against the idea.

A larger proportion of Germans wanted the German government to take a tougher stance against Turkey, with 61% in favor of economic sanctions against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's country while 69% supported a complete ban on arms exports.

Read more: Opinion: Erdogan wins big as clock ticks for Syrian Kurds

Syrian civilians bear the brunt of Turkey's offensive A first stop UN sources say over 200,000 people have been internally displaced in Syria's northeast since Turkey launched its offensive on October 9. So far, the border town of Ras al-Ayn has paid the highest toll in the wake of a joint attack by Turkish militias and airstrikes. The city will remain under Turkish control following a deal struck in Sochi between Russia and Turkey.

Syrian civilians bear the brunt of Turkey's offensive 'We've lost everything' A majority of those who have fled are reportedly Kurds. Those civilians remaining in the city are mostly Arabs who are still in touch by phone with their former neighbors. "They told me yesterday that the Islamists were looting our house. We've lost everything," this man told DW.

Syrian civilians bear the brunt of Turkey's offensive Every crumb helps The regime forces are stationed just a few kilometers away from Tal Tamr. As a result international NGOs formerly based in the area have fled over the past few days. Internally displaced people (IDPs) from Ras al-Ayn and the neighboring villages rely on the work of local NGOs who are struggling to cope with the crisis.

Syrian civilians bear the brunt of Turkey's offensive Not enough to go around Apart from Tal Tamr, other villages in the vicinity are also hosting hundreds of displaced people who rely on local NGOs. "They're settling in empty villages, many of them too close to other locations controlled by either the Turkish-backed militias or 'Islamic State' sleeper cells," Hassan Bashir, a local NGO coordinator, told DW.

Syrian civilians bear the brunt of Turkey's offensive Food, glorious food This Arab IDP from Ras al-Ayn has four wives but will struggle to get enough to feed all their children as local NGOs say they can only allocate a single food ration per family. "It's not their fault, they're just children," he told DW, after being given a single bag of food rations.

Syrian civilians bear the brunt of Turkey's offensive School's out — forever? Schools have remained shut across Syria's northeast since the beginning of the offensive and several of them are now hosting IDPs from Ras al-Ayn. Those who can afford it will move to cities like Al-Hasakah, around 80 kilometers (50 miles) to the south, but others will have to cope with the dire conditions in a border city that faces further attacks from the north.

Syrian civilians bear the brunt of Turkey's offensive The closest thing to home 50 Kurdish families from Ras al-Ayn are now living in this abandoned school in Tal Tamr lacking both water and electricity. As the sanitary conditions deteriorate, local doctors and the hospital in Tal Tamr fear an outbreak of cholera and other diseases. "If we continue like this we'll have to get set for a huge humanitarian crisis," a local doctor told DW.

Syrian civilians bear the brunt of Turkey's offensive Sick and stranded Although the hospital in Tal Tamr is treating the wounded, it cannot help those suffering from diseases such as cancer.Two IDPs told DW that they were supposed to receive chemotherapy in Damascus before the offensive started, but that the current security situation makes it impossible for them to get there.

Syrian civilians bear the brunt of Turkey's offensive A different type of playground The Christian village of Tell Nasri on the outskirts of Tal Tamr had remained empty since IS took over the area. The majority of its former inhabitants left during the IS siege when the militants destroyed the churches with explosives before the fall of the Caliphate. With nowhere else to go, several IDP families from Ras al-Ayn are now settling in Tell Nasri.

Syrian civilians bear the brunt of Turkey's offensive Living on a prayer These boys are among dozens stranded in Tell Nasri but the dire living conditions are the least of their problems. Just before this picture was taken, settlers told DW that they had been attacked from a neighboring village reportedly in the hands of Islamists. "They started shooting at us and we engaged [with them] for over an hour," a fighter with the Syrian Democratic Forces told DW. Author: Karlos Zurutuza (Tal Tamr)

The German government has limited arms sales to Turkey since Erdogan launched the military offensive in northern Syria on October 9 — but there is no total ban on arms sales to the country, as previously vowed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

While NATO's founding charter allows for a member to quit the military alliance, there is no mechanism that spells out how a country can be booted out by other states in the alliance. Removing a country from NATO would be a complicated and lengthy process that would need the approval of, and ratification by, all member countries.

In Germany, many politicians from the Left party have also called for Turkey's expulsion, and the acting chairman of the center-left SPD parliamentary group, Rolf Mützenich, has similarly called Turkey's membership into question.

However, former German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel told Germany's daily Tagesspiegel that expelling Turkey from NATO would lead to a "new major security risk at the EU's eastern border."

Additionally, at least week's NATO meeting, members emphasized Turkey's strategic importance as a bridge between East and West. Turkey also has the second largest army in NATO, after the US, making it a significant contributor to the defense alliance's military capabilities.

Tensions between Ankara and the NATO partners have steadily increased in recent months, such as when Ankara purchased and began receiving the Russian-made S-400 missile system earlier this summer.

ferevon on October 29th, 2019 at 13:11 UTC »

Why is this sub full of people thinking they're strategic experts just because they won WW 2 with Germany playing HOI 4

jaa101 on October 29th, 2019 at 10:38 UTC »

"While NATO's founding charter allows for a member to quit the military alliance, there is no mechanism that spells out how a country can be booted out by other states in the alliance."

xcv999 on October 29th, 2019 at 10:21 UTC »

This is irrelevant. Turkey won't be kicked out of NATO because it's geographic location is too important. There's only one scenario where it might be possible: direct attack by Turkey against an another NATO country.