In this column before the last election, I wrote several times: Turkish politics have been squeezed into a two-alliance system with the "presidential model." However, both alliances are the same on the most fundamental issues; they are neoliberals in the economy and Atlanticists in foreign policy.

The approval of Sweden's NATO membership in the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM) once again demonstrated this: Sweden's accession protocol was accepted with the votes of AKP-MHP and CHP-DEVA.

Thus, for the government, a process that started with "Hey Sweden" ended with "okay USA, okay NATO." On January 23, 2024, members of CHP who approved Sweden's NATO membership were chanting slogans "down with the USA, down with NATO, down with Gladio" in their messages commemorating Uğur Mumcu the next day, January 24, 2024!

In other words, while AKP deceives the lower classes with "hey," CHP keeps the middle classes busy with "down with." The real impasse of politics is here.

ATLANTIC PROCESS AND TURKISH-ISLAM SYNTHESIS

For the AKP-MHP alliance, which is the political embodiment of the Turkish-Islam synthesis ideology of September 12, there is, of course, nothing surprising.

Most political Islamists were never anti-imperialist anyway. Political Islamists are not the ideological continuation of the Muslims who fought against imperialism in the ranks of National Forces (Kuvayi Milliye) during the War of Independence, but the continuation of those who took action with the fatwa of Sheikh al-Islam (Şeyhülislam) in the caliphate army, which was at the back of imperialism against those Muslims. And in the Atlantic process, they were considered within the "green belt" program of imperialism in the "fight against communism."

On the other hand, the Atlantic process was the ground for change in some Turkish nationalists. The ideology of the War of Independence was "anti-imperialist Turkish nationalism"; the Atlantic process shaped Turkish nationalism in NATO's strategy, used it in the "fight against communism," and some Turkish nationalists in cooperation with imperialism became "idealistic nationalists." That's why the "nationalism limit" of idealistic nationalists is always NATO; they are nationalists up to NATO.

MONTRÉ PRESSURE IS NEXT

Sweden's NATO membership is not a Swedish policy but an American policy; it is required by the US's NATO expansion program. By expanding NATO to Sweden and Finland, the US is extending the "encirclement limit" against Russia and also gaining ground in the Arctic Ocean, which will be the most strategic battleground in the future, through NATO.

We pointed out its importance: The Arctic region, with the melting of glaciers, means 1) new oil and natural gas reserves, 2) rich mineral reserves, and 3) a North Route 40% shorter. For this reason, the US is building a "new iron curtain" from the Arctic to the Eastern Mediterranean. Between them are the Baltic, Eastern Europe, and the Black Sea.

It's no surprise... On the day AKP, MHP, CHP, and DEVA jointly approved the US expansion strategy, US Deputy Secretary of Defense Celeste Wallander said, "We want to work on conditions where we can move away from conflict situations, including Turkey and other countries with Black Sea coastlines, as Turkey decides and as a kind of proxy to the Montreux Convention" (Harici, 24.1.2024).

A CONTRADICTION THAT NEEDS TO BE RESOLVED

The US is implementing a "NATO expansion program" that will confront Turkey with its neighbors, supporting terrorist organizations (PKK/PYD and FETÖ), transporting bombs from Incirlik to Israel via C-130 over South Cyprus so that Gaza can be hit better, providing intelligence support to Israel from Kürecik radar, trying to make the Black Sea an international sea contrary to Turkey's interests and to abolish Montreux for this purpose, applying military and economic sanctions to Turkey...

Political Islamists, idealistic nationalists, and Atlantic Republicans in the Turkish Parliament are fully supporting the US program. There is a significant contradiction between the Turkish nation and the attitudes of the parties in the nation's Parliament towards the US/NATO, and it needs to be resolved.