27 September 2011 / TODAY'S ZAMAN, İSTANBUL
A senior NATO commander arrived in Ankara on Monday evening for a previously unannounced visit, the Turkish Foreign Ministry has said. James Stavridis, commander of the United States European Command (USEUCOM) and NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), came to Ankara for a “routine visit,” Foreign Ministry officials said on Monday night. He had talks with Chief of General Staff Gen. Necdet Özel on Tuesday.
Reports in the Turkish media said on Tuesday that he will also meet with Defense Minister İsmet Yılmaz and sought to meet with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, but it was not immediately clear if Erdoğan will meet with the NATO commander. Stavridis arrived in Turkey right after talks in Israel. The NATO commander had talks with Israeli Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz and other top military officials, but there was no information about what was discussed in the meetings there.
Turkish media speculated that Stavridis is expected to discuss the planned deployment of US radar on Turkish soil as part of a NATO-backed missile defense program designed to protect the European members of NATO against missile threats. A row between Turkey and Greek Cyprus over gas and oil exploration rights in the eastern Mediterranean and the future status of a NATO base in the western Turkish province of İzmir are also expected to be discussed in Stavridis’ talks in Ankara.
