Türkiye priceless contributor to NATO: Rutte

ANKARA

In a growingly unpredictable world, Türkiye’s contribution to the collective security of NATO is invaluable, the chief of the alliance, Mark Rutte said, in his first visit to Ankara after taking office.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte paid a one-day visit to Ankara on Nov. 25. It was his first official trip after taking the helm of the 32-nation alliance on Oct. 1, from former chief Jens Stoltenberg.

In Ankara, he met President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Defense Minister Yaşar Güler after laying a wreath at Anıtkabir, the mausoleum of modern Türkiye founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

The Secretary-General did also pay a visit to the Turkish Airspace Industries (TUSAŞ), which was subjected to a terrorist attack by PKK in late October. There, defense industry officials informed him about Türkiye’s current and future defense industry projects, including the indigenous jetfighter KAAN as well as armed drones.

“In an increasingly unpredictable world, Türkiye makes invaluable contributions to our alliance, strengthening deterrence on our southern flank,” Rutte said in an interview with state-run Anadolu Agency before his visit.

“Türkiye has the second largest army of NATO and an impressive defense industry as a strong and determined ally for more than 70 years,” he stated.

The talks between Rutte and Erdoğan as well as other Turkish officials in Ankara were focused on terror threats, as well as the ongoing wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, the sources said. Türkiye, as an ally that has suffered greatly from terrorism in the past 40 years, calls on the alliance to do more against PKK and its affiliates. It recalls that recent NATO summits have described terrorism and Russia as the top two threats to the alliance.

Sources also underlined that Türkiye’s expectations for the removal of the arms embargoes on the allied countries in line with the decisions taken at the 2023 and 2024 summits in Vilnius and Washington, respectively, have been conveyed to Rutte. Ankara wants Rutte to play a leading role to this end.

Another top issue Ankara raised during the talks is the effort to create a more efficient cooperation between NATO and the European Union for the security of the continent in light of growing security problems after the Russian occupation of Ukraine.

Ankara is expressing its disturbance over the EU’s restrictive approaches towards non-EU NATO members’ engagement and is pressing Rutte to overcome this problem. NATO and the EU have recently launched a new effort to build strategic cooperation between the two institutions amid growing security risks in Europe.

Turkish officials and Rutte have also reviewed Türkiye’s contributions to the alliances’ deterrence strategy and reinforcement of its deterrence capacity and defense, in line with the decisions made at the said NATO summits.