NATO summit in Ankara should reaffirm alliance's unity, Turkey to tell allies

ANKARA, May 20 - Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will tell NATO foreign ministers this week that the next NATO leaders' summit, set for Ankara in July, should reaffirm the alliance's unity and integrity, a foreign ministry source said on Wednesday.

• Fidan will attend a meeting of NATO foreign ministers on Thursday and Friday in Sweden's Helsingborg.

• Turkey will host the next NATO leaders' summit in Ankara on July 7-8.

• During the meeting of NATO foreign ministers, Fidan will share Turkey's expectations regarding the Ankara summit and brief allied countries on Turkey's efforts to ensure that it serves as a high-level event reaffirming the NATO's unity and integrity, the source said.

• Fidan will also provide information on Turkey’s contributions to NATO and highlight "Turkey’s best practices regarding the conversion of defence expenditure into capabilities".

• Fidan will emphasise the need to develop transatlantic defence industry cooperation within NATO without any restrictions.

• A separate Turkish diplomatic source said members of the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI), a partnership forum with several Middle Eastern countries, as well as Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and Australia -- known as the Indo-Pacific Four -- may be invited to the Ankara summit at the foreign minister level.

• The source said that all NATO allies will agree in the coming days on the summit invitees and the issue may be discussed at the meeting in Sweden. REUTERS