Turkey’s military operation in Syria will provoke “forceful” discussion at a NATO defence ministers’ meeting Thursday and Friday but Ankara risks little from its allies because of its strategic position, diplomats said.
The issue looks certain to overshadow the meeting in Brussels, with Turkey isolated among the 29 member states because of its incursion this month against Kurdish fighters, considered “terrorists” by Ankara but which were key in the fight against the Islamic State group in Syria.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has refused to condemn Turkey, saying it has “legitimate security concerns” along its border with Syria.
On arrival Thursday, he confirmed the meeting “will address the situation in northeast Syria” where he said a Turkey-US “ceasefire” accord struck last week had reduced fighting.
Diplomats, however, described exchanges with Ankara’s representatives as “frank”.
But they admitted that Turkey’s location at the gates of the Middle East and next to Russia gave it a strategic value weightier than the objections.