The canny head of state in Turkey is a master of intimidation.
With Europeans more apprehensive than ever of terrorist attacks, Mr. Erdogan has ramped up the message of his clergy supporters to advocate a Turkish form of Salafism, basically pushing his base towards jihadists in Europe as well.

He has threatened to close the NATO air base in Incirlik, has insinuated that he could unleash another flood of migrants from Syria, Iraq and many countries in Africa and may well choose to open the portals of Islamic State towards Europe. Counterterror experts estimate that the ISIS cadre in Turkey numbers in the thousands. One of the pro-Erdogan papers published an article recently suggesting that Turkey should take the fire to the homes of Europeans, so that Europeans would have to deal with it in their own countries.

The time has come for the West to raise its loudest voice against the human rights violations in Turkey and make it clear to the victims that they have a champion in the nations of the West. Mr. Erdogan has cleverly played the Syrian refugee and Incirlik-airbase cards against the West for years to gain appeasement from some who are afraid to upset the NATO apple cart.

The time for rethinking that alliance is now, before it is too late.