Britain\u2019s NATO military representative, Lieutenant General Eldon Millar, described the UK and T\u00fcrkiye as \u201cthe bookends of the alliance,\u201d highlighting Ankara\u2019s strategic importance and longstanding contributions to NATO.<\/p>\n
Speaking to Anadolu in an exclusive interview during a visit to T\u00fcrkiye, ahead of the NATO Summit scheduled to be held in Ankara on July 7-8, Millar said T\u00fcrkiye serves as \u201ca vital bridge between so many different parts of the world\u201d because of its strategic location.<\/p>\n
Discussing Britain\u2019s expectations for Europe to shoulder a greater share of NATO\u2019s defense burden, Millar said the alliance\u2019s starting point remains the \u201cimminent and pressing threat\u201d posed by Russia.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we continue to recognize that there\u2019s a really imminent and pressing threat from Russia, so I think that frames really where we start,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Millar emphasized that European allies are increasingly taking responsibility for their own security and noted positive developments across several areas, including defense investments, military capabilities, and command structures within NATO.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve seen some really interesting developments in weapons, in terms of different capabilities that people have got. We\u2019ve seen some really interesting and new ways in which we\u2019re commanding and leading the NATO forces, which is another really interesting piece,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He added that European allies have been \u201cstepping up with greater spending and making the investments that are so important\u201d to defense, stressing that NATO \u201chas always been and will always be a transatlantic alliance.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I think the key piece, as we look forward to the NATO summit here, is demonstrating the role that Europe is taking in its own security to make our entire alliance stronger,\u201d Millar said.<\/p>\n
T\u00fcrkiye \u2018vital bridge\u2019 and \u2018important member\u2019<\/p>\n
Highlighting T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s role within NATO, Millar described the country as \u201csuch an important NATO partner\u201d that has been \u201cpivotal in the alliance, almost one of the founding members.\u201d T\u00fcrkiye has been a NATO member for more than 70 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you look at what T\u00fcrkiye brings to the alliance, it\u2019s a vital bridge between so many different parts of the world in terms of its strategic location. But more than that, it brings real capabilities to the alliance,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have some vitally important alliance bases here in T\u00fcrkiye, many of which you will know. And it continues to play a really important part in almost every single operation, mission and activity that the alliance does. So, in many ways, T\u00fcrkiye is such an important member of the alliance,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Millar said he works closely with his Turkish counterpart in Brussels on a variety of issues facing the alliance.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe often say to each other that in one sense, the UK and T\u00fcrkiye are the bookends of the alliance. North and South, East and West, our countries are geographically positioned in that space,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u2018Strong relationship\u2019 between T\u00fcrkiye and UK<\/p>\n
Millar noted that the bilateral relationship is reinforced by close cooperation and a series of formal agreements between the two countries.<\/p>\n
Referring to the technical and logistical support agreement signed under the T\u00fcrkiye-UK Eurofighter Typhoon project, Millar said regular joint training exercises continue.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe train together routinely, and I think there\u2019ll be a very exciting and interesting program of training, which will be coming together soon. And then on operations, certainly in my service, there has barely been an operation that I have been on where I have not been shoulder to shoulder with Turkish colleagues on those operations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Millar also recalled visiting Kosovo last week, where he met personnel serving in NATO\u2019s Kosovo Force, or KFOR.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re very proud that we have a number of UK personnel serving under a Turkish general in that operation,\u201d he said. \u201cSo the relationship between T\u00fcrkiye and the UK has always been strong (and) it remains a very strong relationship. I think what we have been able to do through NATO is to give some real substance to that relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n
During his visit to Ankara, Millar also visited Anitkabir, the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Republic of T\u00fcrkiye.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a real privilege for me to be able to go and pay my respects,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the thing that struck me, I think, was the number of people who had visited to honour that, but also how much at its core was a relationship with the world, and in particular with the UK. So I think, at its heart, there\u2019s always been a strong relationship. And I hope I can do my small part to make that relationship ever, ever stronger,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
*Writing by Gizem Nisa Demir<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Britain\u2019s NATO military representative, Lieutenant General Eldon Millar, described the UK and T\u00fcrkiye as \u201cthe bookends of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36126,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[13,3818],"class_list":{"0":"post-36125","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-britain","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-sitekeywords"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116572544352262871","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36125\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}