NATO is adjusting to a shifting security landscape and the United States is not seeking to leave the alliance, Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler told Reuters ahead of a NATO summit in Ankara next week.
Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler, Reuters/Yves Herman
NATO is adjusting to a shifting security landscape and the United States is not seeking to leave the alliance, Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler told Reuters ahead of a NATO summit in Ankara next week.
Turkey will host 32 NATO leaders, as well as officials from the Gulf and Asia-Pacific region, on July 7-8, amid tensions within the alliance over burden-sharing, defence spending, and U.S. complaints about allies' lack of involvement in re-opening the Strait of Hormuz.
In written responses to questions, Guler said the summit would focus on bloc unity, evaluating allies' increased defence spending, bolstering defence industry cooperation and increasing support for Ukraine. Ankara should be involved in European defence initiatives, he added.
"NATO continues to be an unparalleled and fundamental platform for Euro-Atlantic security and defence. We evaluate the period we are going through not as a crisis, but as a process of adjusting to the changing security environment," Guler said.
He said the U.S. had no intention of withdrawing from NATO, but that it wanted European allies and Canada to assume more responsibility for the security of Europe, which he said must include Ankara in its defence plans and initiatives.
By Tuvan Gumrukcu
Turkey expects next month's NATO summit in Ankara to emphasise alliance unity, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday, calling for the lifting of restrictions on defence trade and for Ankara's involvement in initiatives to bolster European security.
Several thousand people gathered Sunday in Diyarbakir, Turkey's largest Kurdish-majority city, to demand the release of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, who has been held in solitary confinement on the prison island of Imrali since 1999.
The Israeli government unanimously approved Sunday the recognition of the Armenian genocide, dealing a pointed blow to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a moment of acute tension between the two countries.
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.