Umstrittene Schweizer Sicherheitspolitik ... - ETH Zürich

Ausland
that we really have to give renewed support to the operations in Afghanistan.
We cannot let the NATO mission in Afghanistan fail because that is
the first real NATO out of area mission. I think NATO will continue to
expand. I believe it is the right thing for NATO to do, if we are serious
about the notion of the globalization of security and the interdependence
of nations. As we travel along this path, we have to avoid the creation of
unnecessary and untimely problems, as NATO did with regard to both
Ukraine and Georgia. The promise to Georgia of a NATO membership
perspective was among the factors that propelled Russia to invade Georgia.
Georgia’s Mikheil Saakashvili assumed that NATO would come to its
aid. It did not, it could not, and it ought not to have. Eventually, countries
like Ukraine, Georgia, some of the other countries in the Caucasus,
and some of the European states that are not members of NATO should
be able to join NATO. My understanding is rather simplistic: there is
virtue in greater numbers, whether with regard to NATO, the EU, or
the UN. Of course, you do not resolve everything by making countries
members of an organisation, but by doing so you at least make sure that
the arguments and differences tend to stay under a single roof. That is
the advantage of enlarging such institutions. Turkey officially supported
NATO expansion, if candidates met NATO’s conditions. We are helping
to extend NATO connections in the Gulf, in the Caucasus, and in Central
Asia because NATO will, probably for many years to come, remain the
core security organization of the Euro-Atlantic community.
Catrina Christian: Many of those present have, at one time or another,
argued that EU and NATO enlargement contribute to stability in Europe,
the assumption being that states that are a member of these organizations
do not go to war against each other. However, some people then point to
Turkey and Greece, saying that membership in NATO does not guarantee
anything, although, of course, the two countries are not at war. However,
even if there are only skirmishes going on over a limited period and over
issues of limited scope, it is still an interesting case. What is your view of
the future relationship between Turkey and Greece?
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