ANKARA - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday that Turkey welcomed decision on removal of Southern Region Air Forces Command from Italy to western province of Izmir, which was taken during meetings of the NATO Defense Planning Committee in Belgian capital Brussels.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement noting that this final decision which was taken at the end of a long term work and approved by NATO defense ministers, was welcomed and stated that technical arrangements on command of headquarters would be completed as soon as possible, and it was planned that it would start to serve in the following year.
The statement said that the important issue on which a decision was taken in the meeting in Brussels was the new command structure of NATO and places of headquarters which were foreseen in this structure and stressed that this decision on new command structure constituted an important part of transformational studies which were carried out for NATO to effectively respond to new threats and risks.
The Ministry said in its statement that it was understood from the new command structure that importance of capability to make active response and air elements is put forward in the light of varying threats and risk perceptions and newly developed technologies and war doctrines and concepts.
Noting that also Turkish side took into consideration those tendencies in studies within NATO which had been accelerated since 2002 autumn, and active continuation of NATO military existence in the country was targeted, the statement added, ''our efforts yielded positive results and it was decided that multinational Southern Region Air Forces Command will be moved from Italy to Izmir at the rank of lieutenant general in line with the decision which was taken by NATO Defense Ministers on Thursday.''
(EÖ-MS) 12.06.2003