Turkish FM: Türkiye continues to contribute to NATO missions

Turkish Armed Forces neutralised 17,000 terrorists as part of the operations carried out in Syria over the past six years, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said.

He made the remarks at the Istanbul Security Forum, which is being held on May 2-3, Anadolu reports.

Cavusoglu also noted that all the actions of Türkiye on Syrian territory are based on Article 51 of the UN Charter [on the right of states to self-defence], stressing that Ankara's only goal is to eliminate the threat of terrorism in the region.

Besides, he recalled that among the latter, employees of the National Intelligence Organisation (MİT) of Türkiye eliminated the leader of the ISIS terrorists, Abu al-Hussein al-Qureishi, in Syria.

“The security of Türkiye is part of the security of the North Atlantic bloc. Türkiye continues to contribute to the missions of the Alliance, also striving for the success of the forthcoming summit of the bloc in Vilnius,” the minister said. 

He assured that Ankara will continue to contribute to NATO missions.

Furthermore, Cavusoglu underlined that 60 per cent of all crisis points in the world today are located near the Turkish borders. In this regard, he pointed to the importance of developing the domestic defence industry.

“Turkish Bayraktar UAVs have been successfully used in Syria, Libya and Karabakh. Songs are dedicated to Turkish drones in Ukraine. Testing of the Kızılelma unmanned aircraft continues ahead of schedule. The Atak-2 helicopter, the flagship of the TCG Anadolu Navy and the Hürjet and Kaan aircraft: all these are the pride of modern Türkiye,” Cavusoglu stressed.

He noted that the level of import substitution in the field of Turkish defence has reached 80 per cent.