ANKARA, 29 February 2020, TON: In the backdrop of  attack on Turkish positions in Syria in which 34 Turkish soldier were killed, Turkey summoned emergency meeting of NATO. Turkey’s 28 allies expressed their condolences over the deaths and urged de-escalation, but no additional NATO support was offered in open. Since NATO is already engaged in Syria there is an apprehension from Russia that NATO would take appropriate action to aid to its ally in Syria. Apart from providing some aerial surveillance over Syria, NATO had been covertly active in operations. Presently, NATO has refused to play any direct role in the conflict. However, NATO members are divided over Turkey’s actions there, and European allies are concerned about any new wave of refugees.

The principle of collective defence is at the very heart of NATO’s founding treaty.  It is laid down in the NATO Charter that an attack against one Ally is considered as an attack against all Allies. NATO invoked Article 5 for the first time in its history after the 9/11 terrorist attacks against the USs. NATO has taken collective defence measures on several occasions, for instance in response to the situation in Syria and in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine crisis. However, NATO members are silent over attack on Turkish soldiers.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a statement  said, “We stand by our NATO ally Turkey in the aftermath of the despicable and brazen February 27 attack on Turkish forces in Idlib, which resulted in the death of dozens of Turkish soldiers”, He added, “The Assad Regime, Russia, Iran and Hizballah must cease their ongoing attacks in Idlib.”

Earlier, at Friday’s emergency Security Council meeting, 13 of its 15 members supported U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ call for an immediate cease-fire.