Turkey weighs challenges, benefits of NATO membership

Early in December, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on NATO allies to brand the Kurdish militias who fought against Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria as terrorists. The matter concerns the People’s Protection Units (YPG), which has links with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The latter is an outlawed political and militant organization, the initial aim of which was to achieve an independent Kurdish state. As a reference, to date, Kurds account for 18% of Turkey’s population and are the largest ethnic minority in Syria.

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