Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, maintained the usual “equal distance policy” in the case of the two Greek soldiers currently in custody in Turkish prison. In an interview with Turkish news agency Anadolu, Stoltenberg was quoted as saying “this is an issue that must be resolved between Greece and Turkey.”
Praising the role of Turkey, he said “Turkey is contributing to our collective security, to our missions and operations in many different ways. I thank Turkey for that,” he said, and termed the country’s security concerns as “legitimate”.
With regards to the purchase of Russia’s S-400 air defense missile system, Stoltenberg said that the plan reflects the country’s “national decision”.
“It is a national decision by each and every ally, including Turkey, what kind of military capability they would like to invest in.
“This is a national Turkish decision. What is important for NATO is the interoperability, meaning that different systems can work together.
“There has been no request [to] integrate the S-400 into a joint NATO system. It goes without saying that integrating such a system would be difficult.”
