Turkey's military chief to attend NATO meeting

By Diyar Guldogan

ANKARA (AA) - Turkish Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar will attend NATO's meeting for defense heads on Jan. 16 and 17 in Brussels.

Gen. Akar and NATO's other defense chiefs will attend the 178th Military Committee in Chiefs of Defense Session at the NATO headquarters.

On the sidelines of the meeting, Akar is expected to meet on Tuesday Gen. Joseph F. Dunford, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. The chiefs will discuss regional security issues with a particular focus on Syria.

Chairman of the NATO Military Committee Gen. Petr Pavel on Tuesday said the discussions of the Military Committee would focus on reaching a common understanding of the recent developments in the security environment.

"Military cooperation is important, but only when combined with a range of other elements -- such as the political, economic, judicial and social -- can a sustained and lasting effect be achieved," Pavel said during the opening remarks of the meeting.

Separately, NATO said in a statement on Tuesday: "The Chiefs of Defense will discuss the challenging security environment on NATO’s southern flank and the Alliance’s contribution to its stabilization."

It said they would also review the Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan and discuss the global coalition to defeat Daesh and NATO's role in Iraq during 2018.

"Meetings with partners Ukraine and Georgia will focus on the security situations on the ground, defense reform progress and the way ahead," it added.

The Military Committee meets twice a year at NATO headquarters to discuss the Alliance's operations and missions and provide the North Atlantic Council with consensus-based military advice on how NATO can best meet global security challenges.