BY ZEYNEP GURCANLI (STAR)
Columnist Zeynep Gurcanli writes on the political crisis currently facing NATO. A summary of her column is as follows:
The Iraq war will probably lead to significant changes to political balances not only in the Middle East but also all over Europe. Especially NATO, the ‘security fortress’ of the Western world, is very likely to undergo a dramatic transformation since its Atlantic and European wings have recently split from each other as never before. This separation is unfortunately not only a matter of differences of opinion. On the one hand, there is the United States with its unparalleled military, as a superpower whose annual military budget totals $350 billion. However, on the other hand, there are European countries which want to continue US technical support but without losing their autonomy to make independent security decisions.
US Ambassador to NATO Nicholas Burns chatted with Turkish journalists over the weekend in Brussels. Stressing that the current disagreement among NATO members should not be evaluated as a US-European conflict, Burns said, ‘The US does not want another organization to become a rival to NATO. Americans are very deeply committed to NATO, as are the Turks. NATO will continue to pursue its security missions in both the Europe and Atlantic regions. Security arrangements established by the European Union might undertake peacekeeping missions or crisis management. The US will support such arrangements if and only if they don’t compete with NATO.’
Burns’ remarks were very comforting for Turkey, itself a non-EU member NATO country. As a matter of fact, Turkey was greatly consternated when the US expressed support for the European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP) when it was initially brought onto the EU’s agenda.
Burns also criticized certain European countries, especially Germany, for cutting their annual defense budgets. He noted that the US’ military budget was twice that of all the European NATO members combined, which had created a huge gap.
Burns also underlined that the US had no problems with Turkey, praising our country for successful military policies. He stated that the US appreciated Turkey since Ankara allocates 5% of the country’s gross national product (GNP) for defense expenditures. However, he didn’t shrink from criticizing Turkey’s policy towards Iraq. ‘We understand Turkey’s concerns,’ said the US diplomat. ‘However, the current conditions are very different than those of the 1991 Gulf War. There won’t be any massive rush of refugees towards Turkey’s borders.’
In brief, during my visit to NATO headquarters in Brussels, I realized that this is the most important crisis that NATO has ever been faced with. However, after hearing of my meeting with Burns, France’s diplomat also requested a meeting. He urged us not to make too much of the alliance’s current woes, adding that it had managed to overcome similar crises in the past.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION