Davutoglu: "Turkey is an owner, not a partner, of NATO"

Turkey is not a partner, but an owner of NATO, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Saturday, adding that an agreement within the multinational alliance is as important as an accord within the European Union. On the debate over a possible NATO missile-defense system sought by the US, Davutoglu said calling the proposed system a "missile shield" was mistaken both technically and politically. "Missile shield, missile wars, where will Turkey be in this war?" he said. "The debates within NATO don't concern this at all." Davutoglu added that a recent Brussels meeting of NATO foreign and defense ministers focused more on NATO-EU cooperation. On the three pillars of Ankara's policy on the missile system proposal, he began: "First of all, Turkey is not a country that has to be convinced by NATO. Turkey is not alone; Turkey is at the center of NATO." On the second principle, he said NATO should take into account the principle of "indivisible security," meaning that the alliance should preserve each and every member state's security. On the third principle, Davutoglu said Turkey doesn't see any threats in its neighborhood and has no plans to be a frontier country, unlike during the Cold War era. "Turkey is not in a position to be a frontier country," he said. "NATO, in its threat planning on this issue, should cover all member states and exclude any formula that would geographically set one country against another." Asked if Turkey had reached a compromise with the US on the plan, Davutoglu said one was in the works. On NATO-EU cooperation, he said, "An accord within NATO is as important as an accord within the EU." He added that Turkey should be involved in the decision-making mechanisms related to EU security efforts.