ISTANBUL - NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer departed from Turkey on Thursday.
Scheffer held meetings regarding NATO Summit which will be held in Istanbul in June and then he delivered a speech in a conference at Galatasaray University.
Scheffer had attended the dinner which was held in his honor by Turkish Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul yesterday.
GENERAL DE HOOP SCHEFFER: WE CAN DEVELOP OUR CO-OPERATION IN REGION WHICH IS DESCRIBED BY SOME CIRCLES AS GREATER MIDDLE EAST
NATO Secretary General Jaap De Hoop Scheffer has said that they could develop co-operation in region which was described by some circles as ''Greater Middle East'', stressing that Turkey, as a secular and democratic country, would play a very important role in efforts of the international community.
Speaking at a conference at Istanbul's Galatasaray University, De Hoop Scheffer, who is currently in Istanbul to hold talks about NATO's Summit in Istanbul in June, said on Thursday that it was meaningful to hold NATO Summit in Istanbul since Istanbul was a bridge between Asia and Europe.
Highlighting importance of Turkey, De Hoop Scheffer described Turkey as an important ally due to its relations with the Balkans, Caucasus, Mediterranean, Middle East and Central Asia.
He said that Turkey's success in the last five decades was closely connected with NATO's success.
Recalling that seven countries had joined NATO recently, De Hoop Scheffer said that participation of new countries had proved that NATO had still been preserving its currency.
Noting that NATO developed its dialogue with all countries in European and Atlantic region, Scheffer said that their partnership activities would be directed towards Caucasia and Central Asia with seven middle and Eastern European countries' joining NATO. He added that they had Mediterranean dialogue and had also dialogue with seven countries in northern Africa and Middle East, noting that Istanbul Summit would provide more deepening of this dialogue.
Scheffer said that they could develop cooperation in the region which some people called as 'Greater Middle East', adding that Turkey, as a secular and democratic country, would play an important role for the efforts of international community on this issue.
Scheffer said that an important strategical partnership of NATO and the European Union (EU) was on the agenda, adding that there were many common threats, thus two organization had very important reasons for deepening and developing the cooperation.
(UK-GC-AY) 29.04.2004