“The two main themes of the Summit are deterrence, defence and projecting stability to our neighbourhood,” stated Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, opening the summit of the 28-member North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). “[We] will send a clear message that an attack on one ally will be an attack on the whole Alliance.”
On the first day of the two-day summit, the military alliance confirmed increased troop numbers on its eastern borders with Russia, declared Initial Operational Capability of its Ballistic Missile Defence, and committed to operations on cyberspace security.
While the alliance’s relationship with Russia was front and centre on Friday, Stoltenberg also confirmed that NATO “will step up our support for the international coalition fighting ISIL (Islamic State, ISIS). I expect the Heads of State and Government to make decisions on support of NATO AWACS [Airborne Warning and Control System] surveillance planes, make decisions on training Iraqi officers, and also expand our presence in the Mediterranean, building on our success we have in the Aegean Sea working with the EU, Turkey and Greece.”
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, president of NATO member Turkey, called on the military alliance to do more to strengthen Turkey’s security, noting that ISIS was not a threat just to the Middle East. “As we can see, international security is becoming more fragile,” he said.
“We expect NATO to show much more effort in the face of developments that negatively impact Turkey’s security,” said Erdogan on Thursday before leaving for the summit in Warsaw. “The concept of a security threat is undergoing a serious change. In this process, NATO needs to be more active and update itself in the face of these new threats.”
Turkey has suffered numerous bombings and suicide attacks in the past year and is hosting nearly three million Syrian refugees. “As a NATO country, we want fellow member not to forget about Turkey,” Erdogan said.
Hailing the progress the leaders made in the first day of meetings, Stoltenberg said, “The decisions we have taken today will help keep our nations safe in a more dangerous world.”
NATO’s Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD), first conceived in 2010, is a defensive system to protect Europe from ballistic missiles. The military alliance spent the following six years developing and upgrading advanced detection and alert systems and on Friday announced the system was operational.
“This means that the US ships based in Spain, the radar in Turkey, and the interceptor site in Romania are now able to work together under NATO command and NATO control,” said Stoltenberg.
The military alliance also committed to stationing four battalions along NATO-member borders with Russia – in Poland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania – but stressed that “NATO poses no threat to any country,” said Stoltenberg.
Russia, not a member of the military alliance, has protested the group’s expanding membership along its borders. It sees the build-up of NATO troops along its borders as an aggressive move.
A NATO-Russia council meeting will be held on July 13 in Brussels.
from Rudaw http://ift.tt/29VG38d
via Defense News
No comments: