ANKARA - Southeastern Europe Multinational Peace Force Politico-Military Steering Committee Chairman Ugur Ergun said on Tuesday that there were proposals to use Southeast European Brigade in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Meetings between Multinational Peace Force Southeastern Europe Politico-Military Steering Committee and Coordination Committee of the Southeast Europe Defense Ministerial Process started at Central Officers Club in Ankara.
Gen. Metin Yavuz Yalcin, the Operations Director of the General Staff, Major General Bekir Kalyoncu, General Staff Planning and Operations Department Director, Italian Brigadier General Giovanni Sulis, as well as representatives from Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Macedonia, Romania, Turkey, Croatia, Slovenia, the U.S., NATO and OSCE participate in the meeting.
Activities of Southeast European Brigade and its use in peace support operations, projects regarding Coordination Committee of the Southeast Europe Defense Ministerial Process and regional cooperation issues would be discussed.
Plovdiv, Bulgaria, has been the brigade's headquarters since August 1999. Following Romania, it is scheduled to rotate to Istanbul, Turkey, in 2007.
Ergun said primary goal of the brigade was to solve defense and security problems in the region, and noted that, ''a relative stability is in question in the region now. However, this should not be considered as certain. Very big problems may erupt in any region of the world at any time.''
Ergun said, ''various proposals are made regarding field of responsibility of the Southeast European Brigade in line with the developments in the world. Recently, proposals were made for its use in Afghanistan and Iraq. We will discuss those in the meetings.''
When asked if a decision could be taken in Ankara regarding assignment of the Brigade in Iraq or Afghanistan, Ergun said, ''I don't think so. As the committees we have the preliminary studies. Final decision is taken in ministerial level.''
Ergun said they envisioned 2004 as year of ''adjustment of Southeast European Brigade to NATO standards'', and stressed that they were in cooperation with NATO. Ergun said the target was to contribute to peace operations in the world after reaching the NATO standards.
Ergun said, ''however, firstly we want to have activities in Southeastern Europe region. We may lead to other alternatives following talks because there are not very big problems in our region anymore. We may talk of a relative stability in Kosovo and Bosnia.''
Ergun said foundation stage of Southeast European Brigade was completed, and noted that, ''it is not yet definite where it would have mission. We will evaluate everything.''
Ergun said application of Ukraine for full membership would be discussed, and stressed that they would also evaluate whether or not regional countries like Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia-Montenegro would be accepted as guest countries.
The meetings will end on March 18.
Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Macedonia, Romania and Turkey, who signed an agreement in Macedonia in 1998 aiming to contribute to regional security and improve good neighborhood relations, set up Southeast European Multinational Peace Force Initiative. Southeast European Brigade, which is the first project of this initiative, was formed on August 31, 1999.
Turkey took over rotating two-year chairmanship of the Politico-Military Steering Committee and Coordination Committee of the Southeast Europe Defense Ministerial Process on July 25, 2003.
(AY-AÖ) 16.03.2004