Turkey's military chief to attend NATO conference

By Aylin Sirikli

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's chief of general staff will attend NATO's conference for defense heads between Jan. 17 and Jan. 18 in Brussels, the military said in a statement on Monday.

Gen. Hulusi Akar will attend the 176th Military Committee in Chiefs of Defense Session which is considered as a meeting of NATO’s highest military authority, according to the statement.

Turkey, a NATO member since 1952, has the second-largest military power in the alliance, after the United States, and is a key ally.

On Dec. 29, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said NATO members "should stand by" Turkey if they consider Ankara an ally and a strategic partner, and not "support terrorist organizations."

Erdogan said NATO had not supported Ankara when its border with Syria came under threat since the civil war started in the country nearly six years ago. Nor did it show solidarity when Turkish territory was bombed several times in 2016 by various groups such as the PKK and Daesh, he added.

The Turkey-led Operation Euphrates Shield began in Syria in late August 2016 to improve security, support coalition forces, and eliminate the terror threat along the Turkish border using Free Syrian Army fighters backed by Turkish artillery and jets.