Security conference focuses on NATO’s role for 21st century
As part of the activities marking the Alliance’s 60th anniversary, NATO’s Public Diplomacy Division sponsored an international security conference organized by the Ari Movement, a leading Turkish think-tank based in Istanbul.
The conference brought together around 150 prominent international security experts, politicians, think tankers, academics and media from Turkeyand abroad. NATO was represented by Dr. Stefanie Babst, Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy.
The conference provided an opportunity for in-depth debates on NATO’s role and relevance in the new security environment at a time when the Alliance is involved on three different continents with stabilization and peacekeeping operations in Afghanistan and Kosovo, a training mission in Iraq, an anti-terrorist operation in the Mediterranean and a counter-piracy operation in the Gulf of Aden, off the Horn of Africa and Somalia.
The discussions also focused on NATO’s new Strategic Concept that Allies will start discussing soon and Turkey’s multiple political and military contributions to NATO’s transformation process. Dr. Babst called upon Turkish conference participants to play an active role in shaping the Alliance’s new concept.