ANKARA \u2014 Host country Turkey expects from the NATO summit here this week that national leaders will reaffirm the alliance\u2019s principle of collective defense enshrined in Article 5, according to Defense Minister Ya\u015far G\u00fcler.<\/p>\n
Speaking last month in Brussels, G\u00fcler described the 7\u20138 July gathering as a critical turning point where NATO will demonstrate its determination to adapt to the changing security environment and where its future strategic direction will be shaped.<\/p>\n
Given the volatile security landscape in Europe, with Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine in its fifth year, and war in the Middle East, Turkey\u2019s leaders see the country\u2019s strategic relevance for NATO on the rise.<\/p>\n
The summit in Ankara comes at a moment when the alliance is reassessing its strategic identity amid shifting U.S. priorities in Europe, an evolving Russian threat environment, and increasing demands on European defense capabilities.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith its strong military, advanced defense industry, effective diplomacy and strategic vision, Turkey will continue to be a key actor in NATO, Euro\u2011Atlantic security and regional stability,\u201d G\u00fcler said.<\/p>\n
Ankara acknowledges that the United States\u2019 military restructuring in Europe requires European Allies to increase their investment and fill the gaps.<\/p>\n
For G\u00fcler, Turkey\u2019s growing defense sector is one of the assets to showcase at this year\u2019s summit.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe that the Defence Industry Forum, which will be held as part of the NATO Summit in Ankara, will make an important contribution to enhancing defense industrial cooperation among allies,\u201d G\u00fcler said.<\/p>\n
Serhat S\u00fcha \u00c7ubuk\u00e7uo\u011flu, a senior fellow at the Abu Dhabi\u2011based TRENDS Research and Advisory consultancy, said the development of the Turkish defense industry increases Turkey\u2019s weight within NATO.<\/p>\n
However, this newfound clout risks running into political obstacles inherent in NATO\u2019s relationship with the European Union, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the vacuum created by increasingly isolationist U.S. policies, NATO is gradually taking on a more distinctly European character. As illustrated by Turkey\u2019s effective exclusion from the SAFE program despite being a NATO ally, the obstacles created by Greek and Cypriot vetoes clearly demonstrate this reality,\u201d \u00c7ubuk\u00e7uo\u011flu said.<\/p>\n
Megan Elizabeth Gisclon, managing editor and researcher at the Istanbul Policy Center, said the size of Turkey\u2019s military and the government\u2019s diplomatic ties with Middle Eastern nations as well as Russia make for a well rounded contribution to NATO.<\/p>\n
Cem Devrim Yaylali is a Turkey correspondent for Defense News. He is a keen photographer of military ships and has a passion for writing about naval and defense issues. He was born in Paris, France, and resides in Istanbul, Turkey. He is married with one son.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ANKARA \u2014 Host country Turkey expects from the NATO summit here this week that national leaders will reaffirm…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6149,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[543,211,213,206,156,7,210,20,466,71],"class_list":["post-6148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-ankara","tag-circulated-defense-news","tag-defense-news","tag-dn-dnr","tag-iran","tag-nato","tag-nato-summit","tag-russia","tag-turkey","tag-ukraine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6148\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}