Membership in NATO does not automatically grant full access to the alliance’s structures, particularly its military components. While Turkey remains a formal member, NATO has both the authority and the practical tools to isolate and marginalize it within the organization.
The process of isolation can begin by systematically excluding Turkey from major military exercises, joint training programs, and operational activities. At the same time, allies can block Turkish representatives from key committees and decision-making bodies. Turkey can also be denied access to classified intelligence, sensitive documents, and internal communications by removing it from distribution lists.
NATO has clear precedents for limiting a member’s participation. By steadily increasing pressure, through canceled contracts, withdrawal from Turkish-led initiatives, bans on hosting alliance activities, and the freezing of infrastructure projects on Turkish soil, the alliance can make Turkey’s position increasingly untenable, potentially compelling Ankara to leave on its own.
Despite a gradual reduction in NATO’s military presence in Turkey in recent years, Incirlik Air Base in Adana remains a strategically vital hub. Turkey also hosts several other important facilities, notably in Izmir, Diyarbakır, and Konya. To fully disentangle, NATO should relocate its key assets, sever military integration with Turkish forces, assume the operational roles currently filled by the Turkish Armed Forces, and consider moving its Land Command (LANDCOM) out of Izmir.
These steps would require the alliance to develop new parallel procedures to maintain effectiveness without Turkish involvement. Taken together, such measures can reduce Turkey to a member in name only and ultimately pave the way for its formal exit, either through expulsion or by forcing it to invoke Article 13 and withdraw voluntarily.
It is time to quarantine NATO’s Trojan horse.