بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
The 36th NATO Summit was held in Ankara, Türkiye, on July 7 and 8, 2026. The summit’s final communiqué included several commitments to strengthen the alliance’s defense capabilities, including raising member states' defense spending to 5% of their combined budgets. The communiqué also called on Iran to refrain from acquiring nuclear weapons and to respect freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.
Türkiye demonstrated its commitment to the alliance at the summit. Burhanettin Duran, the head of the Turkish Presidency’s Communications Directorate, stated that “The intensive diplomatic engagements carried out since Monday as part of the NATO Ankara Summit have once again demonstrated Türkiye's active role, under the leadership of our President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in strengthening international peace, security and stability.” He added that President Erdogan and the US President discussed developing bilateral relations, enhancing cooperation in defense industries, trade, security, and the European security architecture, as well as regional and international developments.
Trump reconsidered exempting Türkiye from sanctions imposed under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) and reinstating it in the F-35 fighter jet program if it dismantled the Russian S-400 air defense system.
Erdogan accorded Trump a special welcome, marked by warm displays of friendship and celebration, unlike his reception of other visitors.
Türkiye announced it would increase its defense spending to 5% of its GDP by the end of 2030. It already possesses the second-largest army in NATO after the United States. NATO Secretary General Rutte stated, “Türkiye, with over 3,000 companies, is extremely important.”
According to the BBC, Türkiye plays a pivotal role in NATO's operational architecture through:
1. Incirlik, Konya, and Erkilet Air Bases
2. Radar facilities in Kürecik and Kisik
3. NATO Land Forces Command in İzmir
4. Combined Air Operations Centers deployed in several provinces
5. Aksaz Naval Base
6. Taşucu and İskenderun ports, which are used for military purposes when necessary. During the conflict between the US and “Israel” over Iran this year, NATO defense systems intercepted missiles launched from Iran toward Türkiye, highlighting the operational importance of this infrastructure and Türkiye's position within the alliance's security framework.
Türkiye will increase its defense budget contribution to NATO from $20 billion this year to $70 billion in the coming years, making it one of the alliance's largest contributors.
Türkiye's involvement in NATO and its substantial contributions raise serious questions about its Islamic identity and true stance. Does Türkiye offer the same level of support to Muslim countries as it does to NATO?
What has Türkiye, as a guarantor of the ceasefire, offered to Gaza and its people, who continue to be subjected to blatant and systematic genocide?
The official Turkish media shows, theoretically, that Türkiye is defending the causes of Muslims in Gaza, whose people are being exterminated, and rejects the Jewish occupation of Arab lands in Syria and Lebanon, and supports the Muslim Uyghurs of Türkiye, whose identity has been erased, and stands with all the Muslim countries that are suffering successive calamities. This is only on the surface, but in reality, Türkiye’s standing with the Muslims is nothing but an illusion and a lie. In reality, it stands with those to whom it provides all the money and weapons it has to defend them in the NATO alliance, which is a real enemy of Islam and Muslims.
The major powers of the alliance, such as America, Britain, and France, are criminal colonialist powers that invaded all Muslim lands, including Türkiye, and brought down the Khilafah (Caliphate), tore our lands apart, displaced our people, planted the cancerous entity in our heart, plundered our resources, and inflicted untold suffering upon us, and continue to do so. So why does Türkiye support this accursed, satanic alliance?
Instead of standing with the Muslim World and uniting with it on its crucial issues, Türkiye turns its back on them and stands as a loyal guardian, defending the eastern gate of the criminal, colonialist European-American West.
Furthermore, NATO should politically dissolve because it was established to confront the Soviet Union and communism in the 20th century. With the collapse of the communist system, its role should have ended, and there should be no need for its continued existence. However, it invented a new enemy for itself: Islam. Retired General Wesley Clark’s 2007 revelation that a post-9/11 Pentagon memo outlined plans to “take out seven countries in five years” has proven disturbingly predictive.
So why does Erdogan’s Türkiye stand with this alliance that is hostile to Islam and at war with Muslims?
What is the value of encouraging the hijab and the recitation of the Quran in masajid in Türkiye on the one hand, while on the other hand, we ally ourselves with the most bitter enemies of Islam on fundamental issues such as alliances, defense, and security?
What kind of logic is this? What kind of Islam is this? One must know who one is allying with and who one is opposing!
Turkish politicians today have a duty to review the Turkish state and hold it accountable for these sordid alliances with the most vicious enemies of Islam. Every conscious Muslim in Türkiye must ask themselves about this dangerous strategic error that the Turkish state has caused for over seventy years, and they must explore how to rectify it and correct its course.
The Turkish leadership’s insistence on continuing to defend America, Britain, France, and Europe, the backbone of the alliance, means that it will stand against any Muslim country that clashes with any of these countries, or even with any Western country. This effectively means that Türkiye has sided with the enemies of the Muslim World in any future conflict.
If an Islamic state were to emerge, for example, in Ash-Sham, Iraq, Egypt, or the Arabian Peninsula, Türkiye would be its primary enemy, defending the West, America, and Europe as a key member of the alliance. Türkiye must change its course immediately and align itself with the true causes of this Ummah. Its leadership must stop misleading and deceiving Muslims by claiming that Türkiye is the political center of the Muslim World, when in reality it is Europe’s impenetrable shield against any impending Islamic surge!