Davutoğlu on Wednesday hailed the importance of NATO for his country and stressed the cooperation it has carried out with the Brussels-based organization, where he spoke at a joint press conference with NATO Chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Turkey’s membership in the North Atlantic treaty.
“Turkey became a member of NATO as a result of a strategic decision it made in the Cold War era, and it has become one of the top contributors of NATO in its regional and global peace efforts in the past 60 years,” Davutoğlu said. “Although a lot has changed in NATO and in Turkey, one thing has not: NATO has remained the main pillar of Turkey’s strategic planning and vision,” he added, showing Turkey is still devoted to the organization despite speculation that its membership should be reconsidered.
A few days ago, a presidential hopeful from the Republican Party, Rick Perry, said Turkey was no longer a devoted ally to NATO or the US, and its ties to both powers should be reconsidered, since it is now run by “Islamic terrorists.” His words met with harsh replies both from within the US, led by Washington D.C., and from Turkey. The country’s foreign ministry countered that “Turkey became a member of NATO when Perry was still two years old.”
Rasmussen also joined in the reactions against Perry’s words, saying he strongly objected to the remarks and fully agreed with the foreign ministry’s statement on the issue. The Turkish ministry condemned Perry’s words as baseless and inappropriate, and suggested that he lacked knowledge of international matters and was not needed in US politics.
Touching on developments in Syria during the conference, Davutoğlu also noted the Arab League mission was not limited only to observing, but is also monitoring whether the Syrian administration is fulfilling its pledges. “We do not see much positive development,” he said, pessimistic the Syrian process would not bring the reforms Syrians have been asking for for more than 10 months. “But we will wait for the Arab League report, and we keep in touch with them all the time. We will evaluate together what the new and alternative steps will be,” he added. FM also announced Rasmussen will visit Turkey next month in honor of the 60th anniversary of cooperation between Turkey and NATO.
