At the end of the day, the lack of security agreements might put our personnel on the ground at risk

NATO chief urges Athens, Ankara to iron out differences

28/08/2009

“At the end of the day, the lack of security agreements might put our personnel on the ground at risk,” NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said.

NATO’s new secretary-general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, urged Greece and Turkey this week to improve ties, stressing that their ongoing disputes are impeding the Alliance’s efforts in Afghanistan and Africa by putting ground troops at risk.

“I do not think we could allow a lack of security because of all these political disputes — we have to find pragmatic solutions,” Rasmussen said Thursday (August 27th).

Cyprus is at the core of tensions between the two neighbouring nations, both NATO members. Ankara does not recognise the Greek Cypriot-run part of the ethnically divided Mediterranean island, which joined the EU in May 2004, minus its Turkish Cypriot-controlled north.

In response, Turkey has prevented Cyprus’s inclusion in strategic co-operation between the EU and NATO, thus making it impossible for the Alliance to ensure adequate protection for the 27-nation Union’s trainers in Afghanistan.

“At the end of the day, the lack of security agreements might put our personnel on the ground at risk… It is a subject of real concern to me,” Rasmussen said.

The former Danish prime minister, who was sworn in as the Alliance’s 12th secretary-general on August 1st, voiced hope before the start of his trip Wednesday that he will see an improvement in the ties between the two key NATO allies during his term. “While these are bilateral issues, the effects of these tensions are felt far beyond, NATO-EU relations being the most obvious,” he said.

In Athens, Rasmussen held talks with Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis and Defence Minister Evangelos Meimarakis. Aside from the relations between Greece and Turkey, other topics included the situation in Afghanistan, the process of formulating a new NATO doctrine and the Alliance’s relations with Russia, according to Greek news agency ANA-MPA.

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