[odds]

"Turkey has for decades been a key ally to the U.S. and NATO in the Mideast, an anchor in the Cold War against the USSR and friendly toward Israel as the Jewish state was attacked repeatedly by its Arab neighbors."

I think the answer lies in that paragraph. NATO was essentially set up in response to the Warsaw Pact, am I right?

The geopolitics of the ME and N. Africa changed dramatically with the fall of the USSR. And, Erdogan is no moderate; he is an Islamist. Erdogan has been trying to revamp the Turkish (secular) constitution and diminish the influence of the Turkish military, which traditionally is very secular.

[jazusamo]

I agree, that’s my take on it.