North Atlantic Council visits Allied Land Command in Turkey to discuss NATO's continued adaptation

  • 21 Apr. 2015 -
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  • Last updated: 19 May. 2015 11:41

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and the 28 Permanent Representatives to the North Atlantic Council discussed the Alliance’s continuous adaptation in the face of new security challenges on Tuesday (21 April 2015) in Izmir, Turkey. Held at the Headquarters of Allied Land Command (LANDCOM), the talks were also attended by Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow and the Chairman of the Military Committee, General Knud Bartels.

Briefing by Lieutenant General John W.  Nicholson, Commander LANDCOM

The ambassadors focused on current security developments to the Alliance’s east and south, reviewed the implementation of the Readiness Action Plan and discussed NATO’s continuous adaptation in the run-up to the Warsaw Summit in 2016. They also examined ways to enhance cooperation with partners such as the European Union in order to best address hybrid threats.

The ambassadors were briefed by the Commander of LANDCOM, Lieutenant General John W. Nicholson, on current priorities and challenges, and met soldiers and civilians working there. LANDCOM is a key operational command in NATO's new command structure.

The North Atlantic Council is also visiting the Multinational Military Flight Crew Training Center at Çiğli Jet Air Base. This is a Smart Defence project with Turkey in the lead, aimed at pooling and sharing flight training installations, in order to provide standardised aircrew training, share flight training experience, develop new cooperation areas among allies and partners, and minimise training costs.