Gul assigns Turkish member to NATO's wise men group

President Abdullah Gul yesterday appointed Turkey's former Permanent Representative to the NATO Ümit Pamir to the NATO's wise men group. During his farewell visits in Ankara in early this week, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, set to hand over his post to former Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Aug. 1, called on Turkey to take on active role in the 12-member wise man group as part of the new strategy plan of the alliance. Turkey responded positively to the outgoing head of the security alliance, of which it has been a member since 1950 and assumed important duties in the nearly sixty-year course of its membership. The first meeting of the group is expected to be held on July 7 in Brussels. The group members will not represent their countries.