NATO Struggles to Align Turkey and Germany

Posted: August 4th, 2017

By Karl-Heinz Kamp

Karl-Heinz Kamp is the Director of the German Federal Academy for Security Policy (BAKS) in Berlin. He started his career in 1986 at the German Council of Foreign Affairs (DGAP) in Bonn. In 1988, he has been Research Fellow with the Center for Science and International Affairs (CSIA), John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, USA. In September 1988, he joined the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Bonn, where he became Head of the Foreign- and Security Policy Research Section in 1992 and later the Director of its International Planning Staff. From 2003 to 2007, he was the Security Policy Coordinator of the Foundation in Berlin. From 1997 to 1998, Dr. Kamp was on a temporary assignment with the Planning Staff of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From November 2007 to October 2013 he served as the Research Director of the NATO Defense College (NDC) in Rome to build up NATO's Research Division. In November 2013, he took over the newly created position as Academic Director of the BAKS. He is a member of numerous international institutions and academic bodies. In 2009, Secretary Madeleine Albright selected him as one of the Advisors for the NATO Expert Group on the New Strategic Concept.

In the run up to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s campaign to win a constitutional referendum this April, rhetorical vitriol between Turkey and EU countries reached historic highs, including accusations that Dutch and German politicians were “Nazi remnants.”. Now, a row over the access of German parliamentarians to Turkey’s critical Incirlik air base has prompted Germany to send most of its forces fighting ISIS in Syria to Jordan, while concerns over Turkey’s decline into authoritarianism have led the European Parliament to vote to end Turkey’s accession process to the EU. The Cipher Brief’s Fritz Lodge spoke with Director of the German Federal Academy for Security Policy in Berlin, Dr. Karl-Heinz Kamp, about the source of this crisis and how deep the split between Turkey, Germany, the EU, and NATO runs.

The Cipher Brief: From the German perspective, what are the roots of the growing diplomatic crisis with Turkey?

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