Defining "ally"...
Feb. 12th, 2003 10:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexpgpAgence France Presse reports the following:
Greece on Tuesday voiced support for its old foe and NATO ally Turkey in a row splitting the transatlantic alliance, but stopped short of blaming the three NATO members which sparked the crisis.
France and Belgium, joined by Germany, vetoed a US request Monday to begin boosting Turkey's defenses ahead of a possible US-led strike on Iraq.
"You understand perfectly well that, for reasons of one's own national interest, if a NATO member state invokes Article Four we cannot oppose it," government spokesman Christos Protopapas said.
He was referring to Ankara's decison on Monday to activate an article in NATO's 1949 founding charter, which calls on the allies to consult whenever a member feels its territory is threatened.
It's interesting to see how the NATO crisis being promoted by France and Germany is also acting to improve stability between countries that have a long history of conflict. (It's also nice to see that some folks remember the definition of "ally.")
Ya gotta love them Greeks!
Cheers...
