Turkey continues to block a NATO defense plan for Poland and Baltic states despite a deal last year between Turkey’s president and allied leaders, three allied diplomats and a French defense official said on Wednesday, according to Reuters.
Diplomats said while Ankara has approved the plan, known as Eagle Defender, it has not allowed NATO military chiefs to put it into action.
The dispute, first reported by Reuters in November, is a sign that divisions remain between Ankara, Paris and Washington over Turkey’s offensive last year in northern Syria and that frictions over broader NATO strategy have not been resolved.
The Turkish government did not immediately respond for request for comment. NATO defense ministers are due to meet later on Wednesday and Thursday via secure video call.
“Turkey is refusing to accept these plans unless we recognize the PYD/PKK as a terrorist entity,” a French defense official said, referring to Syrian and Turkish Kurdish groups that Ankara regards as dangerous rebels.
“We say no. We need to show solidarity for eastern allies and it’s not acceptable to block these plans,” the official said.
At a NATO summit in December, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and other allied leaders to drop such demands.
Turkey began its offensive in northern Syria after the United States pulled 1,000 troops out of the area in October. Ankara’s NATO allies have said the incursion undermines the battle against ISIS.
The plan for the Baltic states and Poland, drawn up at their request after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, has no direct bearing on Turkey’s strategy in Syria, but it raises issues about security on all of NATO’s frontiers.
Under the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s 1949 founding treaty, an attack on one ally is an attack on all, and the alliance has military strategies for collective defense across its territory.
