NATO welcomes Turkey’s decision to form spearhead unit

Sevil Erkuş - ANTALYA

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NATO has welcomed Turkey’s offer to assume the responsibility of forming a spearhead unit as part of the alliance’s high readiness force in 2021
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“I welcome the decision by Turkey today to be a lead nation for the Spearhead Force along with six of the Allies who will take turns over the years to come,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on May 14, speaking at the NATO foreign ministers meeting in the southern province of Antalya.

“We are already implementing the biggest reinforcement of our collective defense since the end of the Cold War, boosting the size of the NATO Response Force and also establishing a high readiness Spearhead Force as the centerpiece of the enhanced NATO Response Force,” he stated.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu announced on May 13 that Ankara had offered to assume the responsibility as a framework nation in the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force for 2021.

NATO members had approved a plan to develop the capabilities of the alliance’s Response Force during the Wales Summit in 2014. According to NATO, the move was intended to respond to “security challenges posed by Russia,” as well as those coming from the Middle East and North Africa.

Çavuşoğlu: No comprehensive strategy on ISIL

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said he brought up the threat posed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) at the meetings, but there was still no comprehensive strategy regarding the problem.

“It was not only me who mentioned the very existence of this threat and it was also mentioned by other colleagues. It’s obvious that we don’t have a comprehensive strategy to fight against Daesh [ISIL] as of today. Unfortunately the strategies that were implemented so far, including air strikes, were not enough to stop Daesh. So far we had discussed how to fight against Daesh, however we have to take into account the regime in Syria for example that led to the rise of Daesh,” he told reporters while speaking at a press conference on May 14.

“The fight against Daesh is not sufficient. Because we need a strategy that will include the transformation of the regime in Syria and strengthening the administration in Iraq, including the national guards and defense forces in Iraq. All my colleagues who asked for the floor during the sessions agree on the fact that we need a comprehensive strategy on all these issues. However, it’s still obvious we do not have a good strategy to fight against ISIL,” he said.