By Tuvan Gumrukcu
ANKARA, June 30 (Reuters) – NATO is adjusting to a shifting security landscape and the United States is not seeking to leave the alliance, Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler told Reuters ahead of a NATO summit in Ankara next week.
Turkey will host 32 NATO leaders, as well as officials from the Gulf and Asia-Pacific region, on July 7-8 for a summit that it hopes will emphasise alliance unity and bolster deterrence.
U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to pull his country out of the alliance while Washington has moved to withdraw troops, planes, ships and weapons from Europe due to tensions among allies over burden-sharing, defence spending, and U.S. complaints about allies’ lack of involvement in re-opening the Strait of Hormuz.
In written responses to questions, Guler said priorities for the summit would be showing allies’ increased defence spending, taking steps towards a stronger transatlantic defence industry, reaffirming unity within the alliance, and boosting support for Ukraine.
“NATO continues to be an unparalleled and fundamental platform for Euro-Atlantic security and defence. We evaluate the period we are going through not as a crisis, but as a process of adjusting to the changing security environment,” Guler said.
Washington had “no intention of withdrawing” from NATO, he said, but rather wanted European allies and Canada to assume more responsibility for European security.
“It is expected that contacts and efforts on creating a concrete roadmap to strengthen the European pillar will intensify at the Summit,” Guler said, adding that while Ankara backed a fairer burden-sharing scheme, its priority was preserving the unity of the alliance.
NATO has been under unprecedented strain, with some European allies concerned that Washington may withdraw outright or working to fill gaps from the reduction of U.S. forces.
Guler said Washington played a central role for the bloc’s security and deterrence and that it was of strategic importance to preserve the transatlantic bond.
“NATO’s current nuclear sharing arrangements and the U.S. role of extended deterrence remain fundamentally important to the security of the Alliance,” he said.
EUROPEAN SECURITY INITIATIVES
Turkey has NATO’s second-largest army and in recent years has significantly cut its external dependence in the defence sector, developing one of the world’s leading defence industries.
However, it has been kept at arm’s length from many European defence initiatives over political and policy differences.
Guler told Reuters that while Ankara in principle viewed European steps to strengthen defence and security as positive, these efforts lacked inclusivity and would therefore not be fully effective.
“We believe excluding such an important capacity (Turkey) from Europe’s defence initiatives is a strategically inaccurate approach,” he said, adding that Ankara expected Europe to adopt a “visionary approach” and embrace cooperation with Turkey.
Last year, allies agreed on a defence spending goal of 5% of GDP by 2035.
Guler said Turkey was committed to that goal and was gradually increasing its spending to meet it, adding Ankara aimed to meet all its capability targets by 2029.
He said the priority areas for defence spending were drones, anti-drone systems, air defence and missile systems, naval projects, unmanned systems and cyber capabilities, adding that Turkey’s “Steel Dome” integrated air defence system would be completed “as soon as possible”.
Air defence remains a key issue for Turkey, which lacks its own fully fledged missile defences and relies heavily on NATO’s systems and fighter jets.
Guler said Turkey was evaluating “all options” to meet its needs, including the potential purchase of Patriot systems from Washington or Franco-Italian SAMP-T systems.
“Our core approach on this issue is clear: we are open to all cooperation that meets our country’s security needs, that includes technology-sharing and joint production, and that is sustainable and in line with the spirit of alliance,” Guler said.
Technical and political talks with the relevant countries were taking place “from time to time”, he added.
(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Jonathan Spicer, Daren Butler and Aidan Lewis)
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