Senior NATO commander visits Turkey

A senior NATO commander arrived in Ankara on Monday evening for a previously unannounced visit, the Turkish Foreign Ministry has said,Today's Zaman reported.

James Stavridis, commander of the United States European Command (USEUCOM) and NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), came to Ankara for a "routine visit," Foreign Ministry officials said. He is due to have talks with Turkish officials on Tuesday, but there was no information regarding who he was schedule to meet with.

Stavridis arrived in Turkey right after talks in Israel. The NATO commander had talks with Israeli Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz and other top military officials, but there was no information about what was discussed in meetings there.

Turkish media speculated that Stavridis is expected to discuss the planned deployment of US radar on Turkish soil as part of a NATO-backed missile defense program designed to protect European allies of NATO against missile threats. A row between Turkey and Greek Cyprus over gas and oil exploration rights in the Eastern Mediterranean and the future status of a NATO base in the western Turkish province of İzmir are also expected to be discussed in Stavridis' talks in Ankara.

After Nicosia began working to develop the shelf near the shores of the island, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Ankara will explore for oil and gas in the exclusive economic zone of Northern Cyprus along with the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
Erdogan and President Dervis Eroglu of Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) signed in New York on Wednesday an agreement on the delineation of the continental shelf between two countries in the East Mediterranean.


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