Turkey picks Pamir as ’wise man’ for NATO
Güncelleme Tarihi:
ANKARA - Turkey has decided to appoint retired ambassador Ãœmit Pamir as a member of the Wise Men Committee, a new body tasked to plan the future of NATO and its missions.
The decision came following NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer’s visit on Monday, where he asked officials to respond to the committee’s formation, the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review has learned.Â
The idea of setting up such a committee, which is expected to be composed of 12 figures, came about as a result of concerns within NATO about its future missions in the post-Cold War era.
The committee is scheduled to hold its first meeting July 7 in Brussels, weeks before Scheffer leaves the office to his successor, former Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen. Rasmussen’s appointment to the job caused controversy within the alliance as Turkey threatened to use its veto right, saying that the Danish politician was not the right person for the job.
The members of the committee will not represent their original country and will be tasked "to create more partnerships in the world, to empower military capacity, to develop further relations with international organizations, to be able to execute its missions and operations, to solve the problems with Russia." Pamir retired from the ministry in 2006. His last post was at NATO, where he represented Turkey for three years.