Time for EU to include Türkiye in security mechanisms: Erdoğan

ANKARA

The European Union should leave ideological barriers behind in a rapidly changing world and include Türkiye in its existing security and defense mechanisms, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said.

“We are explaining, for years and in every platform, that our country would contribute to the EU in many ways. The time has long come for Europe to include Türkiye in its existing defense and security mechanism,” Erdoğan said on his return from Ethiopia on Feb. 18.

Erdoğan’s statement comes as the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) is actively participating to NATO’s largest military drill in Germany with more than 2.000 personnel as well as land, naval and aerial forces. It is also taking part in Baltic air patrolling mission of the NATO.

“The world is changing. How much longer can the European Union remain a hostage of narrow agendas in this era of rapid transformation? It’s impossible to understand,” Erdoğan said, referring to the objections of Greece and Greek Cyprus against the Turkish engagement in the field of security.

“The good option is to lift the ideological barriers in front of the integration of Türkiye with the EU and thus further reinforce Europe. They need to understand that their stances that discriminate Türkiye and ignore the world realities are not logical,” the president said.

It is crystal clear that the EU won’t succeed in establishing a new security architect without Türkiye, as one of the largest armies at the NATO, Erdoğan said. “Our confidence into our army is full. Thanks to this, we are a country that speaks both on the table and demonstrate its capabilities in the field,” he added.

Türkiye’s application to join the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) program was not endorsed due to the resistance of Greek Cyprus, Greece and France. It is not admitted to the other EU-led security programs either.

Diplomacy must prevail to diffuse tension between US-Iran

On the ongoing tension between Iran and the United States, Erdoğan stressed that Türkiye is in contact with both nations at the highest level with an objective of resolving the matter diplomatically.

“A new war targeting Iran would benefit no one; on the contrary, our region would lose. We remain on the side of peace and approach the issue with positive aspirations. As Türkiye, we have conveyed to all our counterparts that we are against military intervention in Iran,” he stated.

Türkiye will continue to explain that a military escalation will drag the region into a deeper instability, Erdoğan said, “There is hope if diplomacy runs. We will protect and strengthen this hope.”

On a question on Syria, Erdoğan recalled that the "terror-free Türkiye" project is running successfully and its reflections on Syria have been positively observed following the implementation of the deals between the Syrian Democratic Forces and Damascus.

“There are positive developments taking place there. This pleases us. We are following all the steps for the full integration,” he said.