Originally appeared in Respekt.

Turkey's rising value for Western security has prompted Europe to ignore the growing clampdown on domestic opponents.

At several points the partnership between the West and Turkey appeared ready to break. A decade ago, when Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan proposed hosting a Nato summit in Istanbul, key European partners such as Germany, France and Denmark resisted because of his undemocratic conduct.

That hesitation has faded. European nations no longer object to Turkey's offer, and the Nato gathering in Ankara opened on Tuesday 7 July.

This development is welcome, even while Erdoğan remains in office.

Over the past ten years many Europeans hoped to reduce ties with Turkey as far as possible. They cited the jailing of opposition leaders, repeated breaches of democratic norms, military operations against Kurdish authorities in northern Syria, and lax handling of fighters transiting Turkey to join the so-called Islamic State.

Yet a complete break would have been shortsighted and would have handed Russia a clear strategic win. Nato would have forfeited capable Turkish forces and lost leverage in the Black Sea and eastern Mediterranean.

In Nato - but independently

Recent events illustrate the turbulence. Exactly ten years ago an attempted military coup against Erdoğan unfolded on the Bosporus. He escaped narrowly and blamed US intelligence for backing the plotters.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin was the first to telephone the Turkish president during the crisis. Turkey later purchased Russian air-defence systems incompatible with Nato equipment and, as a result, forfeited access to advanced American F-35 jets.

Putin and Erdoğan met often, reached agreements and expanded energy cooperation.

Concerns that the Nato alliance might fracture proved overstated. Turkey's moves partly responded to a threat that Europeans had underestimated.

Meanwhile the United States supported Kurdish militias battling the so-called Islamic State in Syria. Many Turks viewed those same militias as their primary security concern.