Turkish Foreign Minister complained to Bild that Paris and Berlin were blocking Georgia’s entry into NATO.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu complained in the German Bild newspaper that Paris and Berlin would not allow its northern neighbor, Georgia, to join NATO “for fear of Russian discontent.”
German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said during his visit to Georgia in October that the Germans “will continue to support Turkey if it wants to become a member of the EU and NATO,” even if someone is against it. He referred to territorial disputes in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, in which Russia is also involved.
Because of these two conflicts, Moscow views Georgia’s possible admission to NATO as a security threat. At the heart of this military alliance is an obligation to provide assistance in accordance with Article 5 of the NATO Treaty. This is supported, in particular, by the former Danish Secretary General of NATO, Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
The current NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, a Norwegian, is more open to accepting Georgia. During a visit last year, he praised the country as a “unique partner of NATO,” which not only participated in the Response Force, but was also the largest non-member contingent in Afghanistan and “impressively” modernized its armed forces and military facilities.