Turkey supports NATO expansion to ensure global stability, not against any country. This was stated by the head of the communications department of the Turkish presidential administration, Fahrettin Altun, in an interview with Middle East Eye magazine, excerpts are quoted by RBC.
According to him, Turkey believes that the expansion of the alliance “is the key to lasting peace and stability around the world, but does not support the geographical expansion of NATO” against any particular country.
Altun added that Ankara “is extremely important to be in the western camp,” noting that the country controls the geographic land bridge between East and West and the waterways to the Black Sea. He noted that Turkey has never shied away from participating in the most difficult NATO operations around the world, and has also invested heavily in defense and is rapidly approaching the goal of 2% of GDP that the countries of the military bloc need to spend on defense per year.
Recall that for a long time Turkey did not approve applications for NATO membership from Sweden and Finland, which filed them together after the start of the Russian special operation in Ukraine. As a result, Finland was admitted to NATO separately in April of this year. And on July 10, it became known that Ankara agreed to send a protocol on Sweden’s accession to NATO to the country’s parliament for ratification.
Turkey has been a NATO member since 1952 and has the alliance’s second largest army.
Source: Rosbalt
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