Geography?
NATO ... North Atlantic Treaty Organization
My maps and globe must be defective, because I don't see any place named "Turkey" anywhere near the North Atlantic.
Because the hippies wouldn't let us call it the Anti-Commie League or Northern Civilized Countries. The name means jack. The purpose essentially to maintain the Allies against the even larger threat that replaced the Nazis. Turkey has always been a basketcase even when it is the most sane/modern of the Islamic countries. Which is usually is, actually. Or was. Whatever.
Turkey controls access to the Black Sea. That alone would make it super important. Before the fall of the Soviet empire, it was the absolute closest 'ally' to Russia. Which made it perfect for forward deployed nuclear weapons. Even better, because of the Black Sea, it was close to Russia while requiring the commies to go around a huge honkin' sea to get at said nukes. Unlike Germany, which had Soviet tanks or tac nukes within literal minutes distance. If Russia decides to go expansionist again, it'll be incredibly critical. If Russia doesn't, it's the land route between the Middle East and Europe, which makes it incredibly critical.
It's a missile, nuke and air base in the exact center between Euros, the Russian sphere and the Middle East. Africa doesn't strategically matter, except for one off situations like the Libyan government folding. I lump in Egypt with the Middle East rather than Africa, culturally it is Middle Eastern even if it happens to be located just over the line into Africa.
Which means Turkey can get away with a lot of stupidity before we kick them out of the big boy club. We do NOT want Russia denying us that kind of strategic advantage.
