ANKARA - National Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul said on Thursday that if NATO had demands from Turkey about Afghanistan, Turkey was ready to assess them.
''We should be ready to take responsibility like other countries of NATO in a fair way,'' said Gonul.
NATO Secretary General Jaap De Hoop Scheffer, who is currently in Turkey, visited Gonul in the Ministry.
Speaking before the meeting, Gonul said that NATO was one of the most important international institutions of which Turkey was a member, adding that it was 52nd anniversary of Turkey's membership to NATO this year.
''NATO with its members and Secretariat General is important for Turkey in determining its national defense policies. The strategies which we took up with different approaches before the Cold War necessitate a different approach due to the new dimensions and threats in the world after the end of the Cold War. The appointment in NATO Secretariat General took place in a period in which very important structural changes were on the agenda,'' Gonul said.
Gonul stressed that he believed De Hoop Scheffer would have constructive contributions to Turkey-NATO relations, adding that ''although he started his term in office a short while ago, his inclusion of Turkey to the places which he visits is the sign of the importance he attaches to Turkey.''
When a reporter asked Gonul, ''NATO Secretary General had said that NATO wanted to get more support from Turkey regarding Afghanistan. Is there such a decision taken in principle?'' He said ''we received this demand before it was submitted to NATO and Turkey undertook command mission for six months. The mission later extended to eight months. I think that we carried out the best successful period in ISAF's administration in Afghanistan. We still have around 130 soldiers there.''
Gonul said, ''former Secretary General George Robertson asked us to have more mission than all NATO countries. We said that we could extend help at the airport and extend support to civil enterprises there. We also said that we can provide three helicopters upon demand. But a solution has not been reached in dispatch of helicopters so far. If there are other demands, we are open to consider them since we, as a member of NATO, should be ready to carry burden at fair levels.''
NATO Secretary General De Hoop Scheffer said that he was pleased with being in Turkey.
Stating that his visit to Turkey had a special meaning due to the 52nd anniversary of Turkey's NATO membership, De Hoop Scheffer said that Turkey was a very important ally for NATO.
Concerning the NATO Summit which would be held in Istanbul in June, De Hoop Scheffer said that he believed that importance of the role that Turkey would play in ''new NATO'' would continue.
De Hoop Scheffer stressed that Gonul and he discussed NATO's mission process in Afghanistan and said that Turkey was very successful during the period when it undertook command of ISAF-2.
De Hoop Scheffer said that they took up Balkans, Iraq, NATO's relations with Russia, Caucasia and Central Asia.
Stating that NATO was against terrorism and mass destruction weapons, De Hoop Scheffer added that NATO trusted in Turkey and Turkey could trust in NATO.
(Öª-EÖ-AÖ) 19.02.2004