ISTANBUL - Turkish General Staff Deputy Chief General Ilker Basbug has said, ''the whole world has realized that terrorism is the most serious threat against peace and security in our age.''
Speaking at a symposium held by the General Staff Department of Military History and Strategic Studies in Istanbul on ''Regions of Crisis from the Perspective of Turkey, NATO and European Union (EU) and Their Impacts on Turkey's Security'', General Basbug said on Thursday, ''the world experienced two important events at the end of the 20th century and in the beginning of the 21st century. These two events, collapse of the Berlin Wall and the September 11th suicide attacks in the United States, have deeply affected international relations, alliances, strategic thoughts and concepts of 'threat' and 'security'.''
''The collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989 led to disintegration of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact. According to some evaluations, it was the cause of the world order's changing into uni-polarization. It means end of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union and between NATO and Warsaw Pact,'' he said.
Referring to tragic event in the United States on September 11, 2001, General Basbug said, ''those suicide attacks on the twin towers of the World Trade Center complex in New York showed that even the most powerful states could be targeted by terrorism.''
''Can these two events bear such consequences for our age: End of possibility of war between the great forces; regional and ethnic wars' preserving their importance, and possibility of deadly acts of terrorism by using weapons of mass destruction in any place in the world and at any time. The whole world has realized that terrorism is the most serious threat against peace and security in our age,'' he said.
General Basbug said, ''September 11th attack was the most tragic and most serious act of terrorism. Also, it is a breaking point in fight against terrorism. I want to ask if we have to experience such an event to understand brutality of terrorism and to start an influential fight against terrorism? Many countries faced acts of terrorism before September 11, 2001. Did the other countries display the necessary sensitivity towards them? Did they take the necessary measures?''
''Terrorism entail us change our strategic view envisaging defense based on geographical borders into strategic view foreseeing defense beyond geographical borders. It means transition from conventional war to asymmetric war,'' he said.
Listing dimensions of security as individual, national and international, General Basbug added, ''national security is about preservation of state, security of individuals and welfare of nation. We all observed that some countries made some changes to strengthen their national security following the September 11th events. When the concepts of security gains a global dimension, we call it international security. The most important factor in fight against terrorism is to provide balance among these three dimensions.''
(UK-AÖ) 27.05.2004