File photo.
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, amid tensions within the alliance over burden-sharing, defence spending, and US complaints about allies’ lack of involvement in re-opening the Strait of Hormuz.
In written responses to questions, Guler said the summit would focus on bloc unity, evaluating allies’ increased defence spending, bolstering defence industry cooperation and increasing support for Ukraine. Ankara should be involved in European defence initiatives, he added.
“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.
