NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte praised Türkiye as “really important” to the alliance’s future security on the eve of the NATO summit, singling out the country’s fast-growing defense industry and its role hosting the gathering of allied
leaders in the Turkish capital.
Speaking at a press conference ahead of the summit, Rutte delivered repeated praise for the host nation, describing Türkiye’s expanding defense sector, its long-standing NATO membership and its geographic position as central to the alliance’s collective
security.
Türkiye “Really Important” to NATO’s Future
Asked how important Türkiye is to NATO’s future security strategy, Rutte was unequivocal. “Very important,” he said, noting that the country has been a member “almost since the beginning, since nineteen fifty-two.” “You have one of the biggest armed forces in NATO, well trained,” Rutte told reporters, adding that Türkiye’s “place on the map is important, your leadership in NATO is important, and the fact that you organized this summit … here in Ankara, is evidence of that.” A Defense Industry 3,000 Companies Strong Rutte reserved particular praise for Türkiye’s defense industrial base, which he said had developed rapidly over the past five to ten years. “You have now about three thousand companies … every day churning out the kit, the defense industrial output our men and women in uniform need to defend ourselves,” he said.
The secretary general pointed to defense manufacturer Aselsan, which he recently visited, as “one example, but only one of maybe three thousand companies in total” spanning large firms as well as medium-sized and smaller suppliers.
He said the wider alliance was “already very much profiting” from Turkish output, citing a recent Belgian trade mission and a visit by the Polish president as evidence of Ankara’s deepening industrial ties across NATO and the European Union. Turkish
companies are also investing in the defense industrial base in the United States, Rutte noted. “This is why we need an alliance where we have the least amount of barriers possible in terms of working together across the alliance, from Arkansas to Ankara,” he said.
S-400s and Intra-Alliance Frictions
On the long-running dispute over Türkiye’s purchase of the Russian-made S-400 air defense system in 2017, Rutte declined to be drawn in, calling it “really a bilateral decision … between allies.” Responding to a question about complaints that some members impose “hidden sanctions” on Türkiye, Rutte said it was essential that all 32 allies “work together … as boundless as possible without any barriers,” particularly on sharing defense industrial output. He acknowledged that alliances inevitably see “political discussions and sometimes disagreements,” some lasting years or even decades, but said his role was to resolve them “discreetly behind the scenes.” “In the end, we have only one goal, which is to protect the whole of NATO territory against Russia, against terrorism, against any other threat we face,” he said.
Summit Backdrop
The Ankara summit is taking place against the backdrop of Russia’s war in Ukraine, just across the Black Sea, and amid pressure from Washington for European allies to shoulder more of the defense burden. But Rutte used much of his praise to underscore the strategic weight of the host nation, closing his remarks on Türkiye by describing it as central to the alliance “from Arkansas to Ankara … up to and including this beautiful city.”
