Rasmussen avoids intervention in Syria, but ready to defend Turkey

Speaking to reporters in Brussels ahead of a meeting of defense ministers from NATO states, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Monday that NATO was prepared to defend its ally Turkey, but that it had no intention of interfering militarily, given the complexities of the situation. "I can assure you we have all necessary plans in place to defend and protect Turkey, our ally," Rasmussen said, adding that the tension on the Turkish-Syrian border is not on the formal agenda of the ministerial meeting, but that the issue might be discussed as part of unscheduled debates and meetings. Rasmussen also praised the Turkish government for "showing restraint in response to the acts of the Syrian army" and said he hoped the situation will not escalate. "But this is of course also a responsibility for the Syrian government to take all steps necessary to prevent such escalation," Rasmussen said. In response to a question on Article 5 of the NATO treaty, Rasmussen said that it was considerably "hypothetical" at this stage because Turkey, which has requested a NATO debate on the crisis under Article 4, has not asked the alliance to come to its defense under Article 5. "Such decisions will be taken on a case-by-case basis. It is also very rare that NATO invokes Article 5, we have done it only once in our history," Rasmussen said, adding, "It is quite clear in stating that if one ally is attacked, we consider it an attack on all allies and we stand ready to help each [ally that came under attack]. But of course at this stage it is a bit hypothetical to ask this question."