Turkey accomplished a very difficult mission

Erdogan who held a news conference following the NATO Summit stated that Turkey accomplished a very important mission by hosting NATO Summit. He said that heads of state and government who attended the summit shared a similar view as well.

Erdogan said that Turkey represented a synthesis between Islam culture and democracy, between traditionality and modernism and between the past and the future, and stressed that this summit showed once again that Turkey was a powerful light of hope for dialogue between civilizations and cultures.

Underlining that Istanbul Summit pointed to a critical aspect in NATO’s transformation process, he said that decisions taken in the summit would be a historical turning point for the future, world peace and stability.

Erdogan said that decisions on extension of NATO mandate in Afghanistan to areas beyond Kabul, upon the demand of central government to support elections that would be held in this country, were confirmed in the NATO Summit.

He said: "It has been decided to end NATO operation in Bosnia Herzegovina at the end of the year and assist the EU that is going to undertake a new operation there in light of achievements in this country. A new package of measures like enhancement of capabilities for prevention of possible chemical, biological and nuclear attacks and exchange of intelligence including several measures in fight against terrorism.

It has been decided to initiate work on removal of logistic and financial difficulties which restrict participation of member nations in NATO operations and to provide capabilities which are determined to be necessary to fight new threats.

It has been stressed that accession of seven new countries would not be the last expansion and that the Alliance’s open-door policy would be preserved.

It has been decided to give priority to Caucasian and Central Asian countries within the NATO’s partnership relations.

The ‘Istanbul Cooperation Initiative’ which the leaders decided to carry out in full partnership and consultation with the regional countries in line with the approaches at the G-8 meeting and U.S.-EU summits has been put into practice. It has been decided to improve the existing Mediterranean Dialogue by preserving its peculiar identity in parallel to the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative.

In accordance with UN Security Council resolution 1546 and in line with the Iraqi interim government’s demand, it has been decided that NATO will undertake a role in the training of Iraqi security forces and a domestic study will be initiated regarding supplementary steps."

Erdogan added, "in line with all these decisions, we clearly see that the NATO’s transformation process that is built on new capabilities, new partnerships and operations has gained a new horizon and been accelerated at Istanbul summit. This visionary quality of the Istanbul summit was actually mentioned also in the Istanbul Declaration that was adopted at the summit. Releasing of such a statement in addition of its content for the first time since the London summit in 1990 that was held shortly after end of the Cold War, affirms the importance of the Istanbul summit."