President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has declared victory in an election which independent observers say was neither free nor fair. Under Turkey’s new executive presidency, Erdogan can rule by decree. Then again, he has been able to do so for almost two years, since he declared a state of emergency in the wake of a coup attempt which very well may have been Turkey’s equivalent of the Reichstag fire. Those who support continued U.S.-Turkey partnership say either that the United States has invested too much in its ties to Turkey to walk away because of disgust with one man or they point to Turkey’s strategic value.

These concerns miss the point, however: The partnership between Washington and Ankara was never arbitrary; it rested on shared values. The values the Turkish government now holds, however, are the antithesis of American democratic and liberal values. Erdogan has cracked down on free press, imprisons opponents, and engages in hostage diplomacy. He unapologetically supports Islamist terrorist groups and threatens to betray U.S. military technology to Russia. NATO, meanwhile, is an alliance of joint defense. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts. When one member is threatened, the others rally to its defense; they do not engage in a bidding war for loyalty, as Erdogan openly does with Washington and Moscow.