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Ankara critical of Rasmussen on NATO-EU ties

Thursday, 27 August 2009 08:32

Ankara has denied NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen's suggestion that differences between Turkey and Greece have been hindering further defense cooperation between NATO and the European Union. The remarks by Rasmussen, who assumed office on Aug. 1, came ahead of his arrival in Turkey on Thursday for a two-day visit as part of a tour of NATO countries, including Greece.

“We have come to the point where it is causing us problems in our missions. In Afghanistan, NATO cannot conclude an agreement to support EU police. Off the Horn of Africa, both NATO and the EU have missions in the same area against piracy, but we have no agreement on who will do what or how to support each other. That is just two examples of how these problems have spread far beyond Turkey and Greece,” Rasmussen was quoted as saying, while speaking on a video blog on NATO's Web site on Tuesday.

Yet, while delivering rather harsh criticism, Rasmussen avoided mentioning the Cyprus issue, which is the main source of uneasiness for Turkey vis-à-vis NATO-EU defense cooperation.



“Both NATO and the EU are organizations which are of key importance to Turkey. Cooperation between the two organizations in line with our common interests is first of all a requirement for Turkey's national interests,” a senior Turkish official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Today's Zaman. “As a reflection of this understanding, our country played a significant role in the drafting of the agreement which established the framework of the strategic relationship between the two organizations in 2003,” the same official underlined, referring to the framework for cooperation adopted in March 2003.

This framework for cooperation, the so-called “Berlin Plus” agreement, provides the basis for NATO-EU cooperation in crisis management by allowing the EU to have access to NATO's collective assets and capabilities for EU-led operations, including command arrangements and assistance in operational planning. In effect, they allow the alliance to support EU-led operations in which NATO as a whole is not engaged.

“Compliance with the said framework for cooperation is a requirement stemming from the decisions made by NATO at the time, thus acting in line with this framework is a fundamental responsibility for NATO, as well as for its secretary-general, Mr. Rasmussen,” the official said, reflecting Ankara's stance, strongly advocating the two international organizations stick to existing cooperation mechanisms instead of designing a new one.

Ankara, meanwhile, also expects Brussels to persuade EU-member Greek Cyprus to drop its veto over Ankara's bid to become an associate member of the European Defense Agency (EDA), the body set up to nurture EU-wide defense industry policy. Ankara also wants to be consulted more on European security policy, arguing that it is already a major participant in EU-led military operations.
Turkey asserts that the Berlin Plus agreement reached during the EU Copenhagen Summit in December 2002, which allows the EU to draw on NATO assets and operational planning capabilities in its own operations, provides a sufficient framework for bilateral cooperation between the two bodies.

Greek Cypriot efforts are based on the assumption that this existing agreement should be expanded to include the members of the bloc that joined in May 2004. According to Ankara, Greek Cyprus wants to increase the visibility of the illegitimate recognition by the international community as it being the official representative of the entire island.

The Turkish official also stressed that EU officials personally appreciated Turkey's contributions to joint NATO-EU operations, while citing as an example Turkey's support of EU observers during the recent Afghan elections, as well as Turkey's support in the Balkans region, which was described by EU officials as “perfect.”