BY FERAI TINC
HURRIYET- This week’s NATO summit in Brussels is being seen as an extension of last summer’s Istanbul summit. The future of NATO is still not certain, but developments in Iraq are hopeful. The Brussels summit showed NATO’s support for Washington, which had to fight alone in Iraq. All members were positive towards NATO’s four requests about Iraq. The important decisions are as follows:
Firstly, the number of NATO officials for the training mission in Iraq will rise from 111 to 360, and the number of countries contributing to the training mission will go up to 15. Secondly, countries who were against the US operation in Iraq, including Germany and France, are now contributing to NATO’s training of Iraqi security forces, either in Iraq or outside the country. Thirdly, members also gave financial aid to NATO’s fund for Iraq. And fourthly, the number of countries contributing to the coordination of military equipment has increased.
These developments make clear the US strategy for withdrawing from Iraq. Last year the US proposed a more active NATO role in Iraq, but no country was willing. NATO officials commented that the recent Iraqi elections had changed their outlook. Turkey is also among the countries boosting its contributions for Iraq’s reconstruction. Ankara has proposed that it train Iraqi security forces. About 150 Iraqis will be trained here. The number of Turkish officials at NATO headquarters in Baghdad will be increased, and Ankara will contribute 100,000 euros to NATO’s Iraq fund.
All of these developments are good, but not enough for me. I think Turkey can play a more active role, because this is a NATO mission now. There could be a larger training camp on our border with Iraq. There were many problems, including the Kurdish issue and Kirkuk, between Turkey and Iraq during the war. A more active role with the international community for the reconstruction of Iraq could help our countries overcome these problems.