No. 42

WASHINGTON, DC — The American Hellenic Institute (AHI) decries NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg’s praise of Turkey as a highly-valued ally in an interview published July 9 in Hürriyet Daily News.

In the interview, Stoltenberg says, “Turkey makes many contributions to our shared security…We recognize that Turkey faces a difficult security situation, and NATO stands in solidarity with Turkey… So Turkey does a lot, and this support is deeply valued.”

“Turkey does not share NATO’s core purpose or best interests,” AHI President Nick Larigakis said. “Turkey is a force of instability in the Eastern Mediterranean and greater region.  It has demonstrated aggressive and provocative behavior toward the United States and Greece, which are actions unbecoming of a NATO member nation.  Furthermore, we are approaching the forty-fourth anniversary of Turkey’s illegal invasion and occupation of the Republic of Cyprus, a current EU-member nation, and Turkey has harassed research vessels of multinational oil firms in the exclusive economic zone of Cyprus.”

Larigakis added, “Secretary General Stoltenberg’s inability to express concern about Turkey’s aggressive behavior, let alone exploring how to ease intra-Alliance tensions caused by Turkey, is appalling,”

In May, AHI sent a letter to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to convey strong concern regarding the actions and behavior of NATO member Turkey toward fellow Alliance member countries. AHI also expressed profound disappointment with NATO’s inability to address intra-Alliance conflicts because it lacks a provision or mechanism to deal with such an issue.