“At the meetings, a detailed exchange of views on growing instability in the Middle East, primarily Iraq and Syria, and current situation in Ukraine, as well as other principal issues on NATO’s agenda in light of the Wales Summit decisions are expected to take place,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a written statement Oct. 8.
Stoltenberg will meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and will hold talks with Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu at a working breakfast, and he will meet with Defense Minister İsmet Yilmaz and Chief of General Staff General Necdet Ozel as well. The secretary-general will also visit the U.S. Patriot units deployed to Gaziantep on Oct. 10.
Stoltenberg’s visit comes at a critical moment as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) intensifies its campaign to seize the control of the Kurdish-populated town of Kobane right across from the Turkish border. NATO has already pledged to activate the alliance’s principle of collective defense as outlined in Article 5 of the NATO Treaty in the case of an attack directed against Turkey.
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