NATO Takes "NATO Business and Security Forum" Meeting from Istanbul to Berlin

ANKARA - NATO decided to organize the ``NATO Business and Security Forum`` meeting in Berlin, rather than Istanbul between 10-12 February, 2004 following the terrorist attacks in Istanbul.
Issuing a written statement, Eurasian Strategic Studies Centre (ASAM) which would organize the forum in Istanbul together with NATO, said on Thursday that the place of the meeting changed following the attacks in Istanbul. ``We express sorrow over NATO`s changing the place of the meeting in which terrorism would be taken up, particularly on these days when NATO should support us very much,`` said ASAM.
``This decision is important because it means that terrorists reached their goal,`` ASAM noted, stressing that holding the meeting in Istanbul as it was planned was necessary for preventing global terrorism. ASAM remarked that they applied to concerned officials many times to change that decision, but no result was taken.
NATO plans to hold the second stage of the meeting in May in Turkey.
(Öª) 04.12.2003