What is worrying is the possible invocation of Article 5. No indication yet that Turkey is going to do it, though.
I thought that an attack had to be on the NATO member's territory for it to invoke Article 5 but that's not the case.
The NATO ambassador seems to be suggesting the US will get more involved, but Esper had previously suggested otherwise.
The one worrying part is the allegation that Erdogan is blackmailing Trump with evidence that Kushner essentially greenlighted the Kashoggi murder. Probably not true, but Trump did fold to Erdogan out of nowhere with the Kurds.
And Turkey is already blackmailing Europe with the threat of releasing a wave of refugees. Turkey does have a slightly concerning amount of leverage.
But if anyone in power has any sense, no matter how cynical or evil your geopolitical goals are, what's the endgame here? Perpetually fight Syria, Russia, Iran and Hezbollah to ensure the survival of an al-Qaeda caliphate in a small pocket of Syria? Risk nuclear war over the same issue? These are insane options.
You would think even with Turkey's threats, NATO will tell them to fuck off.