Ο καλύτερος φίλος της Τουρκίας αποδεικνύεται ο Γενικός Γραμματέας του ΝΑΤΟ, Γενς Στόλτενμπεργκ ο οποίος δείχνει απεριόριστη κατανόηση στα όσα αντιμετωπίζει η γείτονα χώρα με βάση τα όσα είπε με τον Courtney Kube του NBC News στο φόρουμ ασφαλείας του Ασπεν.
Στρατής Μαζίδης
Ο Στόλτενμπεργκ ανέφερε ότι κάθε χώρα της Ατλαντικής Συμμαχίας έχει το δικαίωμα να επιλέξει τα οπλικά συστήματα που απόκτα, συνεπώς και η Τουρκία, η οποία όπως είπε δε ζήτησε να εντάξει τους S-400 στην αμυντική ομπρέλα του ΝΑΤΟ. Η Τουρκία κατά τον ΓΓ του ΝΑΤΟ συμμετέχει με αεροπλάνα, ραντάρ και άλλα συστήματα που είναι σημαντικά για τη συμμαχία.
Επίσης εκφράζει την ανησυχία του για την αποπομπή της Τουρκίας από το πρόγραμμα των F-35 λέγοντας ότι αυτό δεν είναι καλό για κανένα μας κι ελπίζει σε απευθείας διάλογο της Αγκυρας με τις ΗΠΑ.
Σε άλλη ερώτηση ανέδειξε το ρόλο της Τουρκίας στην καταπολέμηση του ISIS στη Συρία (εδώ πραγματικά γελάνε) και σε άλλες αποστολές σημειώνοντας ότι η παρουσία της Αγκυρας στο ΝΑΤΟ είναι πολύ βαθύτερο από την απόκτηση του ρωσικού αντι-αεροπορικού συστήματος.
Στο ερώτημα αν η Τουρκία πρέπει να τεθεί εκτός ΝΑΤΟ, απαντά ξεκάθαρα "όχι" και πως ο ρόλος του είναι να μετριάσει τις αρνητικές συνέπειες των τελευταίων εξελίξεων υπογραμμίζοντας ότι η παρουσία της στην Ατλαντική Συμμαχία είναι πολύ ευρύτερα από τα πλαίσια του F-35 και των S-400.
Ακολουθεί το σχετικό απόσπασμα:
COURTNEY KUBE: Another NATO Ally that’s been in the news a lot lately is Turkey, with their acceptance of some of the components for S-400 Radar. The White House put out a statement about it today, saying that accepting the S-400 undermines the commitment all NATO Allies made to each other to move away from Russian systems. The US military also is saying that the S-400 endangers military intelligence, that the radars allow Russia to be able to read intelligence on system struck of this new advanced aircraft that Turkey was supposed to take possession of, and they no longer will. One critical part of the NATO Alliance is this integrated interoperability, integrated air defence systems. A Russian-made air defence system like the S-400 cannot be integrated with NATO. So what does that mean going forward now that Turkey has taken possession of it? Are there technical changes that NATO members now have to make to exclude Turkey from having access to their systems and are there physical air defence infrastructure that has to be altered?
JENS STOLTENBERG: The S-400, the Russian air defence system, it’s not possible to integrate into the integrated NATO air and missile system, which is about, you know, sharing radar picture, which is about joint air policing, which is about also shared capabilities. And Turkey has not asked for that. So the S-400 will not be integrated into NATO’s air and missile defence system. But Turkey can still be part also with other capabilities. Turkey will and is still part of NATO’s integrated air and missile defence. They have also planes, they have radars, they have other capabilities which are important for our air and missile defence. It is up to each and every nation to decide what kind of systems they acquire. But what matters for NATO is interoperability and the S-400 system will not be interoperable with NATO. And therefore this is an issue I have discussed many times in Ankara with President Erdoğan, in Washington with President Trump and other officials and, of course, we tried to avoid to end in the situation where we are now, where two Allies so vehemently disagree and where Turkey . . . I’m concerned about the consequences of the Turkish decision, because it means that Turkey will not be part of the F-35 program any more. I actually visited Lockheed Martin at Fort Worth, I think a year ago or something, and I saw the production lines, and I saw the different flags of the different Allies producing, having planes coming out from that production line, and there were also Turkish planes there. But now they will not be part of that. That’s, that’s not good. It’s bad for all of us, but it’s a consequence of that decision and therefore what I welcome is the direct ongoing dialogue, contact, between two NATO Allies, Turkey and the United States on this issue. I know that they are talking about Turkey acquiring a Patriot system. Turkey is also talking with two other NATO allies, Italy and France, about acquiring some SAMP/T, an Italian-French system, also an air defence system. And you have to remember that NATO is augmenting Turkey’s air defences today. We have deployed a Patriot battery, a Spanish Patriot battery in Turkey and we have deployed an Italian SAMP/T battery in Turkey, as a part of NATO assurance measures for Turkey. So we do what we can. But now we are in a difficult situation, because of the consequences of this decision.
COURTNEY KUBE: But it’s not just . . . I mean, there’s also the symbolism of it, that Turkey, you know, they were trying to acquire the Patriot, it didn’t work out, but the United States and our President Trump has said that the US would figure out a way to sell them, in fact they’ve even offered to help with some of the cost of it, to encourage Turkey to . . . for it to get another Patriot battery and not to buy the S-400. And Turkey . . . in a . . . symbolically turned towards Russia and bought this system, knowing that it would be no F-35, no interoperability with the air defence system, with S-400. So what does that mean? It’s is this Turkey turning away from NATO and towards Russia?
JENS STOLTENBERG: No. This is a serious issue. It’s about S-400 and F-35, but, Turkish contributions to NATO, and NATO’s core cooperation with NATO Ally Turkey, runs much deeper and it’s much broader than F-35, even though that’s important. For instance, Turkey is a key Ally in the fight against Daesh/ISIS. The fact that we have been able to, the Global Coalition to Defeat Daesh, to liberate all the territory Daesh controlled in Iraq and Syria. They controlled a territory as big as the United Kingdom, eight million people, and now they don’t control that territory anymore. That’s not least because of the contributions of Turkey. We have used the bases, infrastructure, and Turkey has played a key part in that fight. Turkey is contributing to many different NATO missions and operations in the Balkans and Kosovo and also in Afghanistan. So, I’m not underestimating the difficulty related to S-400, but I’m saying that Turkey, as a NATO member, is much more than S-400.
COURTNEY KUBE: There’s some people who, you know, commentators are saying that Turkey deserves to be kicked out of NATO because of this, which, of course, there’s no mechanism for doing. But does it . . . do you . . . are there other members, other NATO Allies, who are expressing that kind of sentiment, that they don’t trust Turkey anymore with this decision? That they have, in essence, with the activation of the S-400, they’re opening up a door that potentially exposes other NATO Allies to spying?
JENS STOLTENBERG: NATO . . . sorry, Turkey is a NATO member. Turkey is an important NATO member. And no Ally has raised that issue at all, because they, we all see that we are dependent on each other. Then there is a disagreement on the issue of S-400. That’s correct. And I think that my responsibility is partly to try to help to solve the issue, but as long as that issue is not solved, we need to minimise the negative consequences and also highlight, as the White House does in the statement today, that the partnership the Alliance, the role of Turkey in NATO is much broader than F-35 or S-400.