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Istanbul, 17 November 2016 - Parliamentarians from NATO nations gather this week to take stock of the Alliance’s preparations for increasing its military footprint in the Baltic states and Poland in response to Russia’s threats, and for developing ways to defeat terrorism at home and in the Middle East.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and senior government ministers will join the legislators over four days in Istanbul for the NATO Parliamentary Assembly’s 62nd annual session.
The meeting in Turkey’s commercial hub, straddled between Europe and Asia, comes four months after the country’s institutions survived a coup attempt, and just days after presidential and congressional elections in the United States, NATO’s leading member country.
It will also be the last time for U.S. Congressman Michael R. Turner to preside over the NATO PA talks. His two-year term as President draws to a close and a vote will be held during Monday’s plenary session to appoint his successor.
In a series of resolutions, the Assembly’s members are set to call for NATO to stand united in defence of Allies on the border with Russia, as its continued belligerence causes concern. Lawmakers will reaffirm their support for Georgia and Ukraine, and remind Allies of their pledge to step up military spending.
“Strong deterrence underwrites the truth of our Article 5 pledge to safeguard the sovereignty and territorial integrity of every single NATO Ally. This requires us all to invest in our individual and joint resources – a burden to be shared by all,” Turner said ahead of the session.
With Daesh under pressure in Iraq and Syria, the parliamentarians are set to call for broader intelligence sharing and a toughening of border controls amid concerns that foreign fighters from the region are more likely to return to Europe as the group is squeezed in the Middle East.
NATO’s efforts to help Allies hardest-hit by the refugee wave are also on the table.
To help stem the flow and reassure regional partners, lawmakers will call for more diplomatic pressure on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his backers in Russia and Iran. They are likely to appeal to NATO states to deepen cooperation with countries in the Gulf and around the Mediterranean.
The Assembly is also set to express its backing for NATO’s Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan, call for help to fill remaining security gaps and bolster the fight against corruption, as well as urge international donors to maintain support for the Afghan economy.
NATO governments will be encouraged to keep up spending on airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities, make sure the technologies are compatible across the Alliance, and remove obstacles to information sharing.
“This meeting comes at a critical time. NATO faces a volatile and even dangerous security environment, and Turkey is a vital and valued Ally which finds itself at the very forefront of many of today’s security challenges”, Turner stressed. “Our nations are members of the most successful alliance in history, and it is successful because it is united in its belief in and commitment to shared values. This session will allow us to show our support to a country who just a few months ago faced an outrageous assault on its constitution and democratic institutions. At the same time, we look forward to hearing more from our Turkish friends about the nature, scale and implementation of the emergency measures adopted in response.”
The NATO PA brings together members of national parliaments from the Allies as well as partner countries, observers and organisations. It is an essential link between the Alliance and member parliaments - and therefore to citizens in the Euro-Atlantic area.
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