NATOs generalsekretær Jens Stoltenberg havde den 11. oktober 2019 et længere møde med Tyrkiets udenrigsminister, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu.
Ifølge NATO sagde Jens Stoltenberg på den efterfølgende fælles pressekonference:
“Turkey is at the forefront of a very volatile region. No other Ally has suffered more terrorist attacks. No other Ally is more exposed to the instability, violence and turmoil from the Middle East. And no other NATO Ally hosts so many refugees as Turkey does, many of them from Syria”.
“Of course, no NATO Ally has suffered more than Turkey. And Turkey has legitimate security concerns, and they have been on the frontline. But it matters also for all the NATO Allies, and that’s the reason why we have increased our presence, and why we should continue to provide support to Turkey”.
While Turkey has legitimate security concerns, I expect Turkey to act with restraint. We have a common enemy – Da’esh. A few years ago, they controlled significant territory in Iraq and in Syria. Working together in the Global Coalition, we have liberated all this territory and millions of people.
These gains must not be jeopardised. An imminent concern is that captured Da’esh terrorists must not be allowed to escape”.
What I can say is that Turkey is an important and strong NATO Ally and it is important for our collective defense, for our different missions and operations, including in the fight against terrorism. And for us it is important to have Turkey as a strong and committed Ally, because we are all safer when we stand together. And we have to remember that the progress, for instance, we have made in the fight against Daesh has been very much supported, and very much dependent on, the contributions of Turkey: Turkish forces, Turkish infrastructure, Turkish bases have been critical in the progress we have made together in fighting terrorism, especially the fight against Daesh”.
Den britiske forsvarsminister Robert Ben Lobban Wallace siden 24. juli 2019 – tidligere Storbritanniens længst fungerende minister for sikkerhed og økonomisk kriminalitet fra 2016 til 2019 – sagde på NATO’s Parlamentariske Forsamlings 65. Annual Session 11.-14. oktober 2019 I London, at “Turkey needs to do what is has to do to defend itself.”
Soren Skafte, Former Permanent Secretary 