Lecture of Opportunity by the Foreign Minister of Türkiye, H.E. Mr Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu

On 23 November 2017 the NATO Defense College was honoured to receive the visit of the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Türkiye, H.E. Mr Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu. The Minister was accompanied by the Ambassador of Türkiye to Italy, H.E Murat Salim Esenli, and other high-level Turkish Foreign Ministry officials.

Within the framework of the excellent relations between Türkiye and the College, the purpose of the visit was to deliver a Lecture of Opportunity entitled “Why NATO Solidarity Still Matters?” to Course Members and staff.

The Lecture was also attended by a number of Ambassadors and Embassy representatives from the Diplomatic corps based in Rome.

Upon his arrival at the NDC, Minister Çavuşoğlu was welcomed by the Commandant LtGen Chris Whitecross and other College leaders. Before the start of the lecture, the Minister was briefed on the NDC’s mission and main activities.
The Commandant then opened proceedings in the Maynard-Thorn Auditorium.

At the beginning of his lecture, the Minister stated: “the NATO Defense College is a special institution that promotes the Alliance’s fundamental values, in establishing the culture of negotiation and consensus: solidarity, cohesion and indivisibility of security”. And it was precisely to the concept of solidarity among the Allies that the Minister dedicated his lecture. He briefly touched upon the main challenges and threats NATO is facing at the moment, which undermine the solidarity and unity within the Alliance. In order to face these challenges, he underlined: “We need to work hard on political solidarity” stressed the Minister, “unity about Allies’ security concerns should be ensured” he further added. Thirdly, he stated, “we need to adopt a broader approach to solidarity and support each other in terms of addressing the needs for weapon systems”. Finally, the Minister expressed his belief that “burden sharing among Allies must be increased” and concerning migration issue he stressed that – “Allies and partners must go beyond the strategy of containing the refugee flow to Europe in Türkiye”.

The lecture was followed by a wide-ranging question-and-answer session. This afforded Course Members a valued opportunity to acquire first-hand information about the Turkish strategic vision and to gain the Turkish perspective on NATO’s most sensitive challenges.

NDC Public Affairs Office
(Prepared by Mr Paolo Cazzini, ITA C)