Top post divides NATO members
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Daily News with wires
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Mart 12, 2009 00:00
ISTANBUL - Washington is still considering its candidate for NATO secretary general, U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden said Tuesday, dispelling suggestions that Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen already had sufficient support in the alliance to win the seat.
Media reports suggested that Rasmussen was emerging as a front-runner to be the next head of NATO, based on his track record of backing alliance efforts in Afghanistan and crafting European Union deals. A senior NATO source told Reuters that Rasmussen had the backing of three European heavyweights, Germany, the United Kingdom and France, for the post of alliance secretary general, though the United States was considering backing Canadian Defense Minister Peter MacKay.
Behind the scenes, objections to Rasmussen from Turkey have presented the U.S. with a problem over whether to back the Danish leader, who critics said is viewed with suspicion in parts of the Muslim world.
Analysts said Ankara opposes Rasmussen partly because of his handling of the Danish cartoon crisis in 2005, in which protests followed the publication of drawings seen by some Muslims as insulting their religion, and partly because supporters of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, are allowed to broadcast from Denmark.
After talks in Brussels on Tuesday, Biden was careful to keep Washington's options open, reported Reuters. "It's a very strong field," he said at a press conference at the NATO headquarters. "We don't think as a matter of policy any member nation should be ruled out as being able to provide a secretary general, but we have not taken a position."
No official declaration
Rasmussen is seen as a strong contender because he is a long-serving prime minister with international experience who handled a successful presidency of the European Union in 2002. Rasmussen himself has made no official declaration of interest in the job, but at a press conference in Copenhagen on Tuesday, he declined to rule himself out for the running, refusing to answer questions about the NATO post. Asked last week about opposition to Rasmussen, Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said NATO needed a secretary general "who is capable of maintaining good relations with all countries and has the confidence of all member countries."
Sinan Ülgen, chairman of the Center for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies, or EDAM, said Ankara's position would depend on "whether Rasmussen remains the sole candidate and whether Turkey remains the sole country that would in principle oppose Rasmussen, adding, "I don't think they would veto in these conditions but if it could find allies it would oppose Rasmussen." Ülgen said that Ankara would ideally like a non-European secretary general of NATO because of Turkey's strained ties with the EU. That would make a Canadian candidate ideal, he said. NATO is expected to make a decision by the time of the summit meeting of the heads of government on April 3 and 4.
Behind the scenes, objections to Rasmussen from Turkey have presented the U.S. with a problem over whether to back the Danish leader, who critics said is viewed with suspicion in parts of the Muslim world.
Analysts said Ankara opposes Rasmussen partly because of his handling of the Danish cartoon crisis in 2005, in which protests followed the publication of drawings seen by some Muslims as insulting their religion, and partly because supporters of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, are allowed to broadcast from Denmark.
After talks in Brussels on Tuesday, Biden was careful to keep Washington's options open, reported Reuters. "It's a very strong field," he said at a press conference at the NATO headquarters. "We don't think as a matter of policy any member nation should be ruled out as being able to provide a secretary general, but we have not taken a position."
No official declaration
Rasmussen is seen as a strong contender because he is a long-serving prime minister with international experience who handled a successful presidency of the European Union in 2002. Rasmussen himself has made no official declaration of interest in the job, but at a press conference in Copenhagen on Tuesday, he declined to rule himself out for the running, refusing to answer questions about the NATO post. Asked last week about opposition to Rasmussen, Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said NATO needed a secretary general "who is capable of maintaining good relations with all countries and has the confidence of all member countries."
Sinan Ülgen, chairman of the Center for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies, or EDAM, said Ankara's position would depend on "whether Rasmussen remains the sole candidate and whether Turkey remains the sole country that would in principle oppose Rasmussen, adding, "I don't think they would veto in these conditions but if it could find allies it would oppose Rasmussen." Ülgen said that Ankara would ideally like a non-European secretary general of NATO because of Turkey's strained ties with the EU. That would make a Canadian candidate ideal, he said. NATO is expected to make a decision by the time of the summit meeting of the heads of government on April 3 and 4.