system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5:Why did NATO think it was a good idea to have Turkey as a member?
gpt
Geography.

Turkey controls the Bosphorus strait, splitting the Black Sea from the Mediterranean. During the Cold War, control of that strait was absolutely vital. The USSR's navy was bottled up for large portions of the year when the winter would freeze their other ports up. Only the ports in the Black Sea remain ice free 100% of the year.

It was also very close to Russia, and the US placed several nukes in Turkey until the Cuban missile crisis.