German Minister of Defence Dr. Thomas De Maiziére: “Russia Should Reconsider its Attitude Towards Assad’s Regime”
German Minister of Defence Dr. Thomas De Maiziére met with the students at "Turkey and Germany - Current Uphill Struggles and Mutual Tasks" conference held at the Middle East Technical University.
Maiziére noted that Germany has always given great importance to Turkey and added that Turkey will play a key role at the intersection point of energy hubs between East and West in the years to come. Maiziére also made statements on global developments and regional security and pointed out that today they have been encountering more challenging and diverse tasks than those in cold war era. "International terrorism has targeted societies and values therefore all countries have tofind a joint solution against organized crime." said the Minister of Defence. "We are witnessing that Iran and North Korea have been conducting nuclear researches in an annoying manner and method beyond UN’s acknowledged control mechanisms and this leads to global and regional instability" added Maiziére. He expressed that Iran’s "disputed nuclear program" has posed a risk in the region and added that they are not disapproving Iran’s peaceful use of nuclear energy.
Maiziére also evaluated the developments in Syria and he appealed Russia to review its approach towards Assad’s regime. "Turkey has a geographical importance in the settlement of this crisis and I would like to express my thanks and appreciation to Turkey for accepting Syrian refugees. Syria and Iran will remain on the global agenda for some time. Today no one is in a position to draw the baseline of the regional settlement rapidly. The settlement cannot be achieved without Turkey." said Maiziére.
NATO’s New Defence Strategy "Smart Defence"
"In NATO Summit which was held in Chicago in May, comprehensive negotiations and discussions were made on Defence Package, Smart Defence and Ballistic Missile Defence System" said Maiziére and added that they want to use NATO’s capabilities and resources in more efficient and coordinated manner through "Smart Defence". "Here I want to touch on two projects.One of them is on Multinational Joint Headquarters Ulm. Germany has undertaken has assumed lead responsibilityfor establishing this headquarters. The aim is to plan and manage the operations rapidly and efficiently through a permanently manned headquarters. I am glad that Turkey also intends tocontribute to the Ulm-based headquarters(by manning seven posts).The second project is the training of aircrew. Turkey has undertaken the lead responsibility for acooperative military aircrew training project.I consider this a smart and promising move:Within this context training and exercisingwill become crucial fields of activity for NATO in the future" said Maiziére.Then Maiziére answered the questions directed to him after his speech.
