ISTANBUL        -          Turkey’s blocking of a NATO defense plan for the Baltics in retaliation against the alliance’s failure to recognize the Kurdish YPG militia in Syria as a threat to Ankara is a wrong move that risks alienation from the bloc, analysts said.

The dispute came at a time when Ankara’s reliability as a defense partner is being questioned by the West amid its rapprochement with Moscow in recent years.

“Linking NATO’s proposed stance on Baltic states and Poland to the YPG problem will only serve to estrange Turkey’s relations with NATO,” Faruk Logoglu, a former senior diplomat, told Xinhua.

The leaders of NATO member states will meet in London on Dec. 3-4 for the bloc’s 70th anniversary summit.

Media reports said earlier this week that Ankara had instructed its NATO envoy not to sign on the proposed defense plan unless the alliance provides political support to Turkey in its fight against the Kurdish militia known as the People’s Protection Units (YPG). The NATO plan in question is aimed at defending Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia and Poland against a possible Russian attack.

“This quid pro quo approach to matters not directly related and to one on which there is no consensus is not likely to produce any beneficial outcome for Turkey,” stated Logoglu. Ankara would not change its position unless the YPG is mentioned as a threat to Turkey in NATO documents, Turkish media quoted a diplomatic source as saying on Thursday.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu tacitly confirmed the validity of the reports, as he said the same day “we are not against the NATO reaction plan, but what is being sought for the Baltics should also be sought for us.”

Turkey is extremely disturbed about the military and political support given to the YPG by some NATO members like the United States and France, as Ankara sees the Kurdish militia as a terror group.