Turkey’s growing security role: Where does NATO fit in?

Security & Defence Agenda Report (SDA)

Thursday, 20 June 2013

At the SDA debate on Monday 3 June, speakers insisted that the turbulent regional scenario makes Turkey an essential global political actor, with Ankara looking to NATO and the EU for greater support in facing the multiple crises at its borders. The debate brought together high-level speakers and participants from a wide-range of policy, media and institutional backgrounds, and was co-moderated by Jamie Shea, NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary for Emerging Security Threats and Giles Merritt, SDA Director.

The debate featured Ambassador Bülent Meriç, Director General for International Security Affairs at Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Elmar Brok, Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs at the European Parliament; and Shada Islam, Head of Policy at Friends of Europe.

The SDA presents the principal conclusions of the debate in this report.

Download full text (Format Pdf)