By Tuvan Gumrukcu
ANKARA, June 30 (Reuters) – NATO is adjusting to a shifting security landscape and the United States is not seeking to leave the alliance, Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler told Reuters ahead of a NATO summit in Ankara next week.
Turkey will host 32 NATO leaders, as well as officials from the Gulf and Asia-Pacific region, on July 7-8, amid tensions within the alliance over burden-sharing, defence spending, and U.S. complaints about allies’ lack of involvement in re-opening the Strait of Hormuz.
In written responses to questions, Guler said the summit would focus on bloc unity, evaluating allies’ increased defence spending, bolstering defence industry cooperation and increasing support for Ukraine. Ankara should be involved in European defence initiatives, he added.
“NATO continues to be an unparalleled and fundamental platform for Euro-Atlantic security and defence. We evaluate the period we are going through not as a crisis, but as a process of adjusting to the changing security environment,” Guler said.
He said the U.S. had no intention of withdrawing from NATO, but that it wanted European allies and Canada to assume more responsibility for the security of Europe, which he said must include Ankara in its defence plans and initiatives.
(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Jonathan Spicer and Sharon Singleton)
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