Erdogan’s push to lock Turkey into Europe’s defense structures reveals NATO as a bloated entanglement that drags America into perpetual commitments with unreliable partners. By demanding access to EU initiatives while his defense industry chafes under U.S. sanctions, Ankara seeks to dilute Western security on its own terms, turning an alliance meant for mutual defense into a vehicle for Turkish leverage and European dependency. The Constitution never authorized endless foreign entanglements that subordinate American sovereignty to shifting coalitions or supranational schemes. Washington warned against permanent alliances precisely because they erode the people’s control over their government and invite foreign powers to shape U.S. policy. True security rests on a strong, independent republic, not on propping up Erdogan’s ambitions through layered bureaucracies that blur lines of accountability. America should reclaim its freedom to choose allies based on concrete interests rather than institutional inertia.