There are about 5,000 members of the U.S. military, mostly airmen, stationed at the huge, strategically located air base in Incirlik, Turkey, northwest of the Syrian border.

The American forces at Incirlik are also the custodians of about 50 B61 nuclear bombs. Data on these weapons is classified, but at their maximum yield each is 10 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, according to Stars and Stripes.

Turkey in the past has threatened to go nuclear itself should the United States ever dare to transfer the lethal arsenal.

In the aftermath of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, which led to a U.S. arms embargo, Turkey shut down all U.S. operations at Incirlik. American forces were expelled for three years ? until Washington caved and resumed arms supplies.

In 2016, Turkey cut off power to the base and forbid U.S. flights, fearing that the dissident Turkish generals of a failed coup attempt might use the American facility as a sanctuary.

Under Islamist strongman Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey has become NATO’s only non-democratic nation. It’s also NATO’s only Muslim-majority member. Mr. Erdogan has been trying to re-create Turkey as a new Ottoman imperial power. He feels no allegiance to Western-style democracy.

During the Obama administration, Mr. Erdogan snubbed the obsequious American attempts to promote Turkey as the cornerstone of America’s Middle East policy.

President Trump should remember that and perhaps reconsider his own sometimes appeasing outreach to Mr. Erdogan.

Turkey opposes, if not detests, almost every American ally in the region and befriends almost every U.S. enemy. It despises Israel, aids its enemies and hopes for its dissolution.