By Ali Murat Alhas
ANKARA (AA) - Turkiye expects more support from NATO and its allies for activities aimed at stabilizing the region and the world as a country at the core of the alliance’s geopolitical future, the county's communications director said Thursday.
Fahrettin Altun’s remarks were made at the opening of “Changing Dynamics and Longstanding Alliance: Stronger with Turkiye for 70 Years,” in the capital, Ankara, where he commented on his country’s contributions to NATO missions and operations as well as relations with the pact.
NATO stands as the largest and most institutionally advanced alliance in the history of the world and it has made significant contributions to peace and stability across the globe ever since its establishment, according to Altun.
"NATO today is not just an alliance, it has gone beyond alliance and transformed into an international institution where many countries cooperate in the name of security," he said, adding that alliances were expected to dissolve following the disintegration of an enemy figure but that has not been the case with NATO.
Although some claimed NATO expired and was referred to as "brain dead" by a leader of a NATO-member country, the organization still maintains its position in global politics, said the Turkish official, who noted that the alliance was a strong international organization stretching from continental America to the borders of Asia with 30 members.
He noted that Turkiye had always viewed NATO as a strategic and valuable alliance bringing peace and stability to not only the member states but the globe.
"Like all countries, Turkiye also has relations with non-NATO countries. These ties should not be regarded as an alternative to NATO," he said.
"Turkiye is one of NATO's most active, most reliable allies and it did not join NATO solely as a result of its geographical features," he said, stressing that Ankara made contributions to the pact even prior to becoming a member.
The official went on to say that Turkiye was among the top five alliance members making the most contributions to missions and operations, as seen in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq, and Turkiye undertook the responsibility for NATO’s Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF) in 2021.
Emphasizing that Turkiye has always viewed the alliance as an important instrument of its agenda for security and foreign policy, he said his country was standing at the very center of the geopolitical future of NATO.
While Turkiye fulfills its responsibilities toward the international organization, it also has expectations from NATO and member countries to contribute to stability and peace across its region and the world, said Altun.
He called on NATO to support efforts for stability on European borders more intensively as developments in Syria in the past decade demonstrated the fact that instability could spread to the whole world and issues such as terror and migration emanating from the Syrian crisis were still awaiting solutions.
Altun said his country simultaneously fought multiple terror groups in Syria, such as Daesh/ISIS and PKK but failed to get the expected support from NATO allies.
Turkiye's counter-terrorism efforts for sake of self-defense also serve anti-terror expectations of NATO and global terror threat, according to Altun, who was critical of some NATO allies who he said were "hand-to-hand" with terror groups, let alone supporting Turkiye in its battle against terrorism, and it was “unacceptable” for Turkiye that some allies were trying to use one terror group to fight another.
Altun said the developments in Ukraine rightfully drew the attention of NATO. And al Qaeda, along with Afghanistan, had become a priority for the pact, and the fight against terrorism in Syria as well as balancing foreign powers should also become an item on the NATO agenda.
He underlined that the principle of "deterrence" was what put NATO in its position, and the principle helped allied countries keep away from destructive wars for years, which ensured the stability of global politics.
He added that member countries should refrain from acts harming the principle of "all for one, one for all.
*Writing by Ali Murat Alhas