Secretary General Stoltenberg: NATO Provides Support to Turkey

* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA)

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NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg held a press conference following the first session of the Meeting of NATO Defense Ministers yesterday (February 12).

Addressing the question of a state-run Anadolu Agency (AA) reporter, who asked whether Turkey could "expect any concrete support from the NATO to its ally Turkey" in the face of "military escalation by Russia-backed regime forces in Idlib", Stoltenberg stated the following:

'We condemn brutal use of violence'

"The situation in Idlib was raised during our discussion today and what we see there now is the consequences of a brutal use of violence, horrendous attacks against innocent civilians and indiscriminate bombing of civilian targets.

"We condemn this because this is something which is not acceptable. And we call on the Russian-backed Assad regime to stop all these attacks, which is killing innocent civilians and to fully support and engage in the UN-led peace efforts.

'We are very concerned about Idlib'

"NATO provides support to Turkey today. We are Turkey's NATO Ally and NATO is present in Turkey and also we provide some assurance measures for Turkey, including some capabilities augmenting their air defence systems. So NATO provides support and we are very concerned about the situation in Idlib." (EKN/SD)