Turkey urged to do more in Afghanistan

30/08/2009

ANKARA, Turkey -- NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen urged Turkey on Friday (August 28th) to beef up its contribution to missions in Afghanistan. During a visit to Ankara, Rasmussen also noted that the lack of a security pact between NATO and the EU has posed a threat to the two organisations' military forces in Afghanistan and has resulted in "absurd" consequences. "We need to find a pragmatic solution to this problem," Rasmussen told a joint press conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. Turkey has blocked the strengthening of security co-operation between NATO and the EU over long-standing problems involving Greece and Cyprus, which have hindered Turkey's EU integration efforts. Rasmussen also urged Turkey to strengthen its support for the stabilisation of Afghanistan, particularly in terms of training missions. "I appreciate very much the current Turkish contributions ... However, as a secretary-general I travel around to encourage Allies to contribute even more, because we need more," Rasmussen said. (Hurriyet, AFP, Deutsche Welle, DPA, AP, Reuters - 28/08/09)