Ambassadors of Baltic States to Turkey meet with Turkey's Minister of National Defence and Commander-in-Chief of Turkish Armed forces [2006-04-04 00:00:00]
On 4 April 2006, the Ambassadors of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania to Turkey (Ivars Pundurs, Markt Volmer and Vitautas Nauduzas), met with Turkey's Minister of National Defence Vecdi Gonul and the Commander-in-Chief of the Turkish Armed forces, General Hilmi Özkök, to thank them for the decision of the Turkish government to take over the NATO air patrolling mission in the Baltic States as from 1 April.
At the meeting, the ambassadors noted that the air-patrolling mission is a visible acknowledgement of membership of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania in NATO, thus promoting Baltic States security. The officials discussed options for air patrolling in Baltic air space after 2007.
The ambassadors thanked Turkey for its support during the Baltic States' accession to NATO, expressed their support to Turkey's accession to the European Union, and proposed to continue sharing their experience of EU accession talks.
The Turkish officials said they were pleased at the visit of the Ambassadors of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania, and their expression of gratitude. Turkish Defence Minister Vecdi Gonul emphasized that Turkey had never recognised annexation of the Baltic States and had supported their membership of NATO.
The Turkish officials invited officers and soldiers of the Baltic States to make use of a training centre and NATO schools in Turkey to improve their knowledge and skills.
