ANKARA, July 1: Five years ago, the West risked a full-blown diplomatic crisis with NATO ally Turkey when 10 ambassadors called for the release of a man they saw as a political prisoner, prompting an angry President Tayyip Erdogan to order their expulsion.
After two frantic days in 2021, the sides stepped back from the brink with the U.S., French, German, Canadian and other envoys issuing conciliatory statements and Erdogan saying they would be more careful in the future.
Since then �" and especially since Russia's invasion of Ukraine a year later left Europe feeling exposed �" the West has mostly avoided publicly raising concerns about Turkey's record on rights and freedoms, instead focusing on boosting security ties with the regional military power and big arms exporter.
The West's diplomatic pivot will be on display when the leaders of NATO's 32 member states meet in Ankara on July 7 to 8.
They are not expected to criticise an unprecedented legal crackdown on Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), including the jailing of its presidential candidate, Istanbul's Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, Erdogan's main rival, according to Western and Turkish diplomats involved in summit planning.
Some critics of Erdogan's government believe the relative Western silence encourages its authoritarian slide, isolates Turkey's opposition and ignores NATO's founding principles of democracy and rule of law.-REUTERS
