Posted on 10/01/2014 6:28:17 PM PDT by markomalley
NATO will defend Turkey if the country is ever attacked, the alliance’s new chief Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday, amid increased instability on its borders.
The former Norwegian PM will visit Turkey next week as Ankara mulls using force to repel ISIL militants in Iraq and Syria.
Turkish lawmakers are expected to debate authorising military action on Thursday.
“Our responsibility, the basic responsibility, is to stand up and be very clear that we are going to protect Turkey. That collective defence, Article 5, is something which is also going to be applied if Turkey is in any way attacked,” said Stoltenberg in his inaugural press conference as NATO secretary-general.
Article 5 is NATO’s mutual self-defence clause under its founding treaty; it states that an attack on one member is an attack on all NATO allies.
NATO members pledged at a summit in Wales, UK, in September that they would halt the slide in defence spending, lifting it to two percent of each country’s GDP within ten years.
But similar promises have been made in the past. In Newport, NATO leaders signed up to a pledge to boost defence budgets, rather than a commitment.
It was not that long ago that NATO was dismissed as a relic of the Cold War, reports euronews’ James Franey.
But now threats close to its eastern frontier and emerging new dangers in the Middle East have given it a fresh sense of purpose, our correspondent says.
Julian Lindley-French, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Statecraft in London, told euronews that the ex-Norwegian premier faced a number of tough challenges as he took office.
“It’s called the 21st Century. Get used to it!,” said Lindley-French, an expert in defence policy and strategy.
“What we have seen in the last four years are defence budgets effectively ‘raped’ to keep social welfare, health, education, moving in countries in the midst of austerity. So in a sense what Stoltenberg has got to do is present the facts of the world in which Europeans now live,” he added.
Sure don't see a problem there.
/sarc
I say we need to defund Turkey....
Isn’t today’s Turkey the biggest supporter of ISIS? Is NATO headquarters now in Boulder, Colorado?
Turkey is a typical freeloading muzzie state now....taking advantage of the kafir fools.
BUMP!
“NATO will defend Turkey if the country is ever attacked....”
.
What if Turkey joins ISIS? Will NATO also join ISIS?
Who’s going to defend NATO from Turkey?
Turkey is busy helping build the new Caliphate.
I think McCain already did.
Bingo. Erdogan’s wet dream is to be a Caliph there.
NATO seems like a welfare program, where countries join and then ignore their defenses, knowing the U.S. will bail them out if need be.
This guy is late to the dance.
Turkey has invaded Iraq and Syria, and they are winning.
Bing Freaking Go !
That will be a bit awkward.
Turkey has no rightful claim yo NATO membership. It is now a muslim State, the first one to claim there is no contradiction.
Turkey not only supports ISIS today, but is aiding them militarily, logistically and probably financially, as well as contributing volunteers to "join" ISIS.
What kind of incompetent runs NATO now?
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