NATO-US call on Athens and Ankara for “constructive dialogue”
The recent provocative statements of Recep Tayyip Erdogan were asked to comment on the US Secretary of State and the G.G. of NATO in Brussels. Both insisted that any differences between Greece and Turkey should be resolved through diplomatic means, avoiding taking a clear position on Ankara.
“Turkey and Greece are two valuable allies”, emphasized the Minister of Foreign Affairs. of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, during a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
“Turkey and Greece are two valuable allies. They participate and contribute to NATO in many different ways. Differences between them must be resolved through diplomatic means. In NATO we have a de-escalation mechanism – which has already been used – through which Turkey and Greece are committed to providing information and ways to de-escalate any dangerous situation or behavior in the Aegean,” he added.
And Anthony Blinken said he agrees with g.g. of NATO that Greece and Turkey are “two valuable and important allies” – friends of the US. “They have differences and we want to see them resolve them in a constructive way, through dialogue – it has happened before and we expect it to happen again.”
When asked whether Turkey is endangering the unity of the Alliance with its stance on a number of issues (eg Russia, the accession of Finland and Sweden), the US Secretary of State replied that the challenges due to Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, are important to all Allies. “We must ensure that we focus our attention and resources on supporting Ukraine. What I received in the room today was, with all NATO allies present, a very strong reaffirmation of that unity.”
For his part, Jens Stoltenberg said that it is natural for there to be differences within NATO. “We are 30 different democracies and of course we don’t always agree on all issues,” he said. In the end, differences are overcome, as demonstrated at the NATO Summit in Madrid.