Stoltenberg: The Turkish army is strong and remains in NATO

The Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg believes that "purge in which are suspended or arrested thousands of members of the Turkish army after a failed coup attempt has not weakened the army and the country."

"Turkey has a large army, professional armed forces, and I'm sure will continue to be a strong ally in NATO," he told Reuters on the sidelines of a meeting of defense ministers of more than 30 countries involved in the coalition against the armed group Islamic State of Iraq and Levant.

Approximately 60,000 soldiers, police officers, judges, civil servants and teachers suspended or arrested after the attempted putsch, which increased tension in the country of 80 million people that borders with Syria and Western ally against ISIL, reminds Reuters.

Almost a third of the approximately 360 Turkish army generals were arrested after a failed coup on July 15

Meanwhile, Dutch, German and Canadian foreign ministers expressed concern over the scale purge of the Turkish authorities and called on Turkey to respect the rule of law.

On the border of instability

Stoltenberg is expected that the Turkish reaction to a coup attempt to be justified and in accordance with the values of NATO, adding that he did not discuss Turkey's membership in the military alliance."For us it is important that Turkey continues to be a strong ally in NATO, because Turkey is on the verge of instability, all the violence that we have seen in Iraq and Syria," said Stoltenberg.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting of defense ministers at Andrews near Washington, US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said that the meeting focused on stabilization and reconstruction that will follow after the victory over ISIL.Stoltenberg added that there is a greater need for information sharing within NATO, especially when it comes to the fight against ISIL.

"On the one hand, we need to gather more intelligence information, and on the other, we have to have better mechanisms for information exchange," said Stoltenberg.

• 21 Jul, 2016
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