Eurasia Press & News
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen met with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on Tuesday (May 25th) to discuss the situations in Turkey and Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). “All … shared the view that BiH’s future lies in Euro-Atlantic structures,” Rasmussen told reporters after the meeting. “But I must also say that there was real concern today about the level of ethnic tension and rhetoric in BiH,” he added. He and Ashton agreed that the EU and NATO “need to talk more together, and do more together, from planning to procurement to operations”.
Rasmussen also discussed Turkey, urging the EU to “accommodate” Turkish concerns and allow co-operation between the bloc and NATO. Ties between the two organisations have been hampered for years because of issues between Turkish and Cyprus, as well as due to the refusal of some EU member states to move Turkey’s accession talks forward. Turkey, a NATO member, has vetoed allowing Nicosia access to classified Alliance documents, while Cyprus has been blocking Turkey’s participation in EU defence initiatives.
