{"id":765872,"date":"2026-02-15T10:02:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T10:02:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/765872\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T10:02:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T10:02:15","slug":"dutch-german-leaders-stress-turkiyes-key-role-in-europe-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/765872\/","title":{"rendered":"Dutch, German leaders stress T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s key role in Europe security"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (R) and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store attend a bilateral meeting at the 62nd Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany on February 14, 2026. (AFP Photo)<\/p>\n<p>\nFebruary 15, 2026 12:44 PM GMT+03:00\n<\/p>\n<p>Dutch Foreign Minister David van Weel said T\u00fcrkiye is critical to European security, while German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called for closer cooperation with new partners, including T\u00fcrkiye, at the 62nd Munich Security Conference.<\/p>\n<p>Van Weel, representing the Netherlands\u2019 caretaker government, emphasized T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s importance within NATO and its contributions to collective security.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor this reason, having such a strong nation within NATO makes me very happy. Because I worked at NATO, I have seen T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s recent contribution to our security, and I think we should all be happy about it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"newspicture\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1280\/853;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/dutch-german-leaders-stress-turkiyes-key-role-in-europe-security-3214569_202602151226_20260215122637.jpeg\" alt=\"German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (L), Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (R) and members of their delegations meet for bilateral talks during the 62nd Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany on February 14, 2026. (AFP Photo)\" width=\"1280\" height=\"853\" data-width=\"5500\" data-height=\"3668\" meta-alt=\"German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (L), Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (R) and members of their delegations meet for bilateral talks during the 62nd Munich Security Conference (MSC) on February 14, 2026 in Munich, southern Germany. (Photo by Thilo Schmuelgen \/ POOL \/ AFP)\"\/><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.turkiyetoday.com\/s\/i\/i-fotobuyut.svg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\nGerman Chancellor Friedrich Merz (L), Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (R) and members of their delegations meet for bilateral talks during the 62nd Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany on February 14, 2026. (AFP Photo)\n<\/p>\n<p>Merz calls for new partnerships<\/p>\n<p>Merz said a deep gap has emerged between Europe and the U.S., warning that European integration and the transatlantic partnership alone would no longer be sufficient to protect freedom.<\/p>\n<p>He called for closer cooperation with countries such as T\u00fcrkiye, stressing the need to engage new partners even if all concerns are not shared.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis enables us to approach new partners with whom we may not share all our concerns but do share important ones. This prevents dependencies and risks, while also creating opportunities for both sides and protecting our freedom,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Countries named as key partners<\/p>\n<p>Merz said T\u00fcrkiye, Canada, Japan, India, Brazil, South Africa and Gulf countries would play a key role in this process.<\/p>\n<p>T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s role in Europe\u2019s security architecture has been increasingly highlighted in recent years, particularly following significant advances in the defense sector.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.turkiyetoday.com\/s\/i\/i-share.svg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>February 15, 2026 12:44 PM GMT+03:00<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (R) and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store attend a bilateral meeting at the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":765873,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5310],"tags":[2000,299,1824],"class_list":{"0":"post-765872","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-germany","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-germany"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116074076407243735","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/765872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=765872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/765872\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/765873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=765872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=765872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=765872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}