http://news.yahoo.com/no-longer-talk-obama-turkeys-erdogan-100909241.htmlQuote
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he has stopped talking to US President Barack Obama on the phone, amid growing strains between Ankara and Washington over Syria and the Gaza conflict. Turkey, a fierce opponent of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and an open supporter of armed rebel fighters, felt betrayed when the United States backed away from military action against Damascus in September.
"In the past, I was calling him (Obama) directly. Because I can't get the expected results on Syria, our foreign ministers are now talking to each other," Erdogan said in a live interview on pro-government ATV channel late Monday.
The last phone conversation between the two leaders took place on February 20 after which the White House released a statement accusing Erdogan of misrepresenting the content of the conversation.
A staunch advocate of the Palestinian cause, Erdogan has recently been at loggerheads with Washington over Israel's offensive in the besieged Gaza Strip that has killed more than 580 Palestinians in two weeks. Erdogan accused the Jewish state of carrying out "state terrorism" and a "genocide" of Palestinians and criticised the United States for defending Israel's "disproportionate" tactics. The US State Department branded his comments on Israel "offensive and wrong".
The increasingly Islamist and pro-Muslim Turkish state will no longer communicate directly with NATO's most important members head of state. Turkey is staunchly pro-Palestine and since Erdoğan took power Turkey has ceased to be an ally of Israel. Erdoğan has committed numerous human rights violations and has attempted to ban Youtube, Google, Twitter and more in the country because these medias dispute his rule. Not even America's biggest rival and perpetual sabre rattling partner Russia has ever even thought of doing this. Similarly, only a select few countries refuse to have direct contact between head of states with the US, and now you can count a NATO member among them.
Is it time to eject Turkey from NATO? Turkey is no longer a strategic necessity, Israel, Georgia, the Kurdish autonomous zones, Jordan and Egypt fill the role of critical Western allies in Asia Minor/the Middle East. Turkey has a foreign policy in direct opposition to NATO. By far NATO's most important area of the world foreign policy wise is the Muslim world, and Turkey is no longer helping.