The Munich Security Conference chairman said on Wednesday that Turkish interests must be taken into account during NATO’s upcoming summit in Türkiye’s capital Ankara in July.
Speaking at a panel at the 10th Black Sea and Balkans Security summit in the Romanian capital Bucharest, Wolfgang Ischinger underlined Türkiye’s hosting of the summit and highlighted its proximity to what he described as one of two “major challenges” to the alliance’s security, namely Iran.
Ischinger said that NATO countries must understand that it is essential that a strong message of “unity and determination and cohesion” will come from the summit in Ankara.
“The central question is: ‘Is the correct message going to be arriving in Moscow and correctly understood in Moscow?’ … This alliance is about security off and in Europe, and security in and off Europe depends to a significant extent on credible deterrence,” he said.
Ischinger went on to say that he thinks it is in NATO countries’ collective interest to make sure Türkiye will be happy with the summit and draw a conclusion of being a “proud member “of NATO as an alliance that is also present to protect it.
“So, in other words, let’s make sure that we take Turkish interests, in an appropriate manner, into account to make it a success for all of us, including the host country Türkiye. I think that is very important,” he added.
The conference chief also defined the current period in the alliance as “one of fundamental changes,” the last such period having occurred after the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, citing the raising of members’ GDP commitment to defence spending from 2 percent to 5 percent and the effect of technological advances on military balance.
The two-day Black Sea and Balkans Security Forum, which began on Tuesday, brings together officials, experts, and representatives from academic and business circles. The event is organised by the New Strategy Center, a Romanian think tank founded in 2015. Anadolu is the global communications partner for the event.
The NATO summit in Ankara will take place on July 7-8, and will be the second NATO summit held in Türkiye, with the previous one held in Istanbul in 2004.
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