NATO head, Turkish FM meet, talk over terrorism

ANKARA

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg met Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Thursday in Turkish capital to discuss terrorism, illegal migration and human trafficking.

NATO is currently helping the Turkish and Greek coast guards tackle people smugglers who are still ferrying refugees across the Aegean Sea despite an EU-Turkey agreement aimed at halting the traffic.

“As long as it is needed, we [will] remain in the Aegean Sea” Stoltenberg said at a news conference in Ankara.

Cavusoglu said they also discussed NATO expansion. “The Turkish position is very clear on this issue,” he said. “We back Montenegro’s accession to NATO and, regarding other candidate states such as Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia and Georgia, progress should be made.

“We also talked about actions to be taken against Daesh in Iraq, Syria and Libya. Besides that we mentioned NATO’s support to countries affected by terror or neighboring countries like Jordan.”

Cavusoglu said Turkey was ready to fight terrorism in Libya, as it has in Afghanistan, as part of any NATO initiative.

He also stressed the need for more efficient intelligence sharing among ally countries against Daesh.

Stoltenberg called for a comprehensive approach to combating terrorism and acknowledged Turkey’s crucial role in fighting Daesh and within NATO.