Expectation of The Summit
However, not only has this new identity diversified NATO’s military and political duties, but it also expects more contribution from its members. As the Afghanistan experience shows, the organization has both military and political duties to fight terrorism, and this situation requires more military and civilian support and more material and monetary contributions from member states. Following the Cold War, military reforms were implemented by a great many countries. At this point, how to meet NATO’s needs became a problem. Everybody is expecting the contributions of other countries in order to meet NATO’s needs, especially new members, and also Turkey. Analysts I spoke with in Hungary last week told me, ‘We’re in Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia, Kosovo and Cyprus. This responsibility is great, even according to our own criteria, and our publics are opposed to this situation.’
US President George W. Bush arrived in Turkey over the weekend thronged by a delegation of 500, including many Secret Service agents. They have high-powered weapons, and Bush’s greatest expectation of this summit is to overcome the US’ isolation from the previous period and to signal that trans-Atlantic relations have been repaired. Likewise, following last week’s summit in Ireland with European Union leaders, Bush said, ‘We reached consensus on one issue, that a democratic and peaceful Iraq which maintains its territorial integrity will serve all our interests,’ hoping to show that there was a new era of consensus between Europe and the US on Iraq. Certain American diplomats made statements to journalists who travelled alongside Bush from Ireland to Turkey which strengthened this message. For example, they emphasized that the outcome of the summit in Ireland meant support for an international force to help ensure security for Iraqis. This is what Bush expects from the NATO summit in Istanbul. Washington also expects NATO’s intervention in Iraq. However, officials I spoke to in Brussels said the EU was together with Poland in NATO and that it could contribute to the training of Iraqi soldiers in another country outside Iraq.
In spite of everything, relations between the US and the EU are more positive than a year ago. Both have learned lessons from their past. Initiatives to put US-EU ties on a firmer basis were supported during the Ireland summit. Meanwhile, children living on the streets of Istanbul were sent away from the summit venue. I hope these children won’t be abandoned to their own fates, and necessary steps will be taken to bring them back into the community.”
