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ANKARA: NATO Commander Says Turkey Is Entire Arc Of Islamic World

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  • ANKARA: NATO Commander Says Turkey Is Entire Arc Of Islamic World

    NATO COMMANDER SAYS TURKEY IS ENTIRE ARC OF ISLAMIC WORLD

    Today's Zaman
    March 11 2010
    Turkey

    The commander of a NATO force said on Wednesday that Turkey was the
    entire arc of the Islamic world.

    US admiral James Stavridis, the commander of the NATO Supreme Allied
    Commander Europe (SACEUR), said that he believed Turkey was an
    extremely important state geopolitically.

    "It is a hinge state between Europe and the Levant and South Asia and
    indeed the entire arc of the Islamic world," Stavridis said during
    a US House of Representatives session in Washington D.C.

    Stavridis defined the presence of Turkey in NATO as extremely
    important, and said he thought was very helpful in maintaining an
    orientation of Turkey toward and with the West.

    The admiral said as the only Islamic nation in NATO, Turkey had
    been extremely helpful in assisting all of the other nations in
    understanding the cultural mores.

    Stavridis said Turkey was a big, muscular country, with a strong
    standing army and a very capable military.

    "We have learned a great deal and have drawn on their active support,"
    Stavridis said.

    Stavridis said the Turks today had 1,800 troops in Afghanistan doing
    exceptionally good work, really across a wide spectrum of missions
    in the country.

    The admiral said they were working with Turkey on intelligence and
    information sharing along their borders, working across that border
    with Iraq.

    Stavridis said Ray Odierno, the commanding general of US troops in
    Iraq, had been very engaged in that issue.

    Also, Stavridis counted Turkey's Chief of General Staff Gen. Ilker
    Basbug as his close friend, an interlocutor who gave him good advice
    on how they should be approaching and working in the Islamic world.

    Stavridis said the protocols signed by Turkey and Armenia were awaiting
    approval by legislative bodies.

    "I think it would be an extremely important step, there are several
    of these so-called frozen conflicts in Europe," Stavridis said.

    Stavridis said a step forward between those two nations, he thought,
    would also serve as a very good example, as other types of these
    issues were worked through for example in the Balkans.

    The admiral said his grandparents were born in Turkey, and they were
    of Greek descent and emigrated there to the United States.

    "It's an extremely complex region of the world, and whenever these
    nations can find common ground and move beyond the disputes and the
    anger and the warfare of the past, that is an extremely salutary step
    really for all the Europe but certainly for the nations involved,"
    Stavridis said.

    Admiral Stavridis is a 1976 graduate of the US Naval Academy and a
    native of South Florida.

    >>From 2002-2004, Admiral Stavridis commanded Enterprise Carrier
    Strike Group, conducting combat operations in the Arabian Gulf in
    support of both Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.

    In mid-2009 Admiral Stavridis was appointed as the Supreme Commander
    Allied Powers Europe.
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