Tacan Ildem, NATO Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy has visited Kyiv recently. The Turkish diplomat has already been to our country, but that was the first time he arrived in that status. In an exclusive interview to The Day, Ildem spoke on the priorities of NATO’s Department for Public Diplomacy regarding Ukraine, and on the Alliance’s plan for strengthening its own image worldwide – particularly in convincing young people of the need for the world’s only functional organization of collective security.
“My presence here is a clear indication that Ukraine is at the top of the NATO agenda. NATO and its Allies are committed to extending strong and unwavering support to Ukraine. NATO supports Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and condemns Russia’s illegitimate and illegal annexation of Crimea and its aggressive actions in eastern Ukraine. There has been excellent cooperation between NATO and Ukraine and I am here to follow up on critical issues to further strengthen our relationship.”
Please, name those critical areas, and what are your priorities?
“I think it was a very important occasion in Warsaw to have the NATO-Ukraine Commission convene at the level of heads of state and government with the participation of President Poroshenko. There, it was decided that we would adopt a Comprehensive Assistance Package to Ukraine. I would also note that we already have Trust Funds established to support a number of priority areas such as command and control, logistics and standardization, cyber defense, military career transition, medical rehabilitation, and counter-improvised explosive devices. We also agreed to focus on the emerging areas such as countering hybrid warfare and strategic communications, which fall under my responsibility as the Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy.
“In relation to Strategic Communications, a roadmap was signed between the NATO Secretary General and the Secretary of National Security and Defense Council [of Ukraine] in September of 2015. This is an important document. It establishes the framework under which we will be cooperating with Ukraine to strengthen its capacity in dealing with challenges of Strategic Communications. It will be extremely important to include Strategic Communications as part of the principal documents in the security and defense domain. There is already good work going on in that respect.”
Have you seen progress in this area and an understanding from Ukrainian authorities of the importance of these issues?
“Yes, indeed, we see that Strategic Communications are a more and more integral part of the strategic planning documents that Ukraine has developed and NATO certainly welcomes this. For all the different stands of ongoing activities, there is great interest and support among Allies. In fact, ten Allied countries are contributing to various Trust Funds. Additionally, eight nations have seconded 30 experts who are working here in Ukraine with their counterparts on a number of initiatives. This is a solid evidence of how well the cooperation is progressing between NATO and Ukraine.
“Ukraine is very valuable partner of NATO and has been contributing to Allies’ operations from Kosovo to Afghanistan. It made a contribution to the NATO Response Force. Also, Ukraine has been taking part in counter-terrorism and counter-piracy activities.
“When we look at all the activities of NATO, the Ukrainian contribution is something that we appreciate and value. An important element going forward is for NATO to give strategic advice and targeted assistance to Ukraine so that Ukraine can continue to develop its security and defense sector in a manner that is compatible with NATO standards. It also requires civilian oversight of the military which will be essential to the reform process. Reforms are crucial for ensuring Ukraine is able to stand on its feet and contribute significant capabilities. When Ukraine is strong, it means European security and NATO is strong as well.
Does the Public Diplomacy Division check public opinion polls to know about perception of NATO in the world in order to improve its image?
“The opinion polls show that NATO enjoys broad support in our publics. It is important that we cultivate this understanding as there are still segments of the society who are not sufficiently aware of the value added of NATO for European and Euro-Atlantic security. We need to reach out to those people with solid, objective information, with a special focus on the younger generation, which is not always aware of NATO’s contribution to security. The history of NATO, from the Cold War years to post-Cold War challenges, demonstrates that the Alliance is in a constant state of transformation and adaptation. It provides security not only for the one billion citizens of NATO nations, but also provides stability, in cooperation with many Partners, beyond our borders.”
I agree with you but recently the candidate from the Republican Party in the United States said that NATO is obsolete. What can you say on this?
“I am of course not going to comment on the internal electoral campaign of one allied nation. All I can say is that NATO is relevant, providing security, protecting citizens of all the Allied nations, and contributing to security and stability throughout the region. When you look at the Warsaw Summit decisions, you will see that they are grouped as the strengthening of deterrence and defense with a component of dialog, and projecting stability beyond our borders. It is clear in our declaration that our aim is to tackle all threats and challenges emanating from any direction.
“We need to strengthen key capacities and capabilities of individual Allies, while at the same time continue cooperation with our Partners in the East and South in an effort to help them confront these challenges themselves. This cooperation is a great investment, not only for those countries involved but for NATO as a whole. NATO has consistently demonstrated its value during the post-Cold War years. Of course there was 9/11 when NATO invoked Article 5 for the first and only time in its history with operation Active Endeavor. Kosovo, Afghanistan, and other operations and missions show that NATO is able and ready to ensure a more secure environment.”
How you are going to reach the younger generation to show the relevance of NATO for them?
“Public Diplomacy requires us to use many different tools to reach out to various segments of the population. We are putting more focus on our digital outreach and activities. We know that the younger generation communicates largely in the digital environment. And we have engagement programs that support events at universities, think tanks, and other venues that bring together communities and young representatives. There are many ways to engage, and we are doing our best do even more, so that the future leaders and opinion makers have a solid baseline understanding about NATO and its many contributions to security. The creation of a constructive debate on security and defense issues is the best way to increase awareness and attract the attention of people from different segments of the society. This is what we are aiming for.”
Mr. Ildem, you already mentioned at the beginning that NATO has condemned the illegitimate and illegal annexation of Crimea by Russia and its aggressive actions in eastern Ukraine. What do you think NATO could do to force Russia to reverse its actions in Ukraine, withdraw weapons, and let Ukrainians control its border with Russia?
“First of all, in the aftermath of the annexation of Crimea, which NATO deemed to be illegitimate and illegal, NATO heads of state and government had a Summit meeting in Wales. There, they adopted the Readiness Action Plan and we reinforced our capacity by tripling the NATO response force to 40,000 and, in the core of that, a spearhead force of roughly 5,000 troops, which could be deployed in a matter of days.
“We also announced assurance measures at that time and we are continuing with the relevant work, which produced results at the recent Warsaw Summit meeting. We reviewed the strengthening of deterrence and defense, and you may recall that the heads of state and government decided to have four battalion-sized battle groups for the Baltic countries and Poland. We already have eight headquarters to facilitate training and reinforcements of critical logistical support.
“All these measures should, of course, be seen in their totality. Therefore, we are talking about four battalion-sized forces against the background of what we have already done so far. I think it is a clear response to the aggressive actions of the Russian Federation. What NATO has been doing is proportionate, defensive, and in line with international commitments. There should be no question about whether NATO is doing anything that is bypassing agreed commitments. On the contrary, we are fully adhering to these commitments.
“There is yet another component that I think is important to highlight. It is dialog. Deterrence and defense should be complemented by dialog. We have suspended our practical cooperation with the Russian Federation after the annexation of Crimea, but we still maintain political dialog. The recent NATO-Russia Council was held on July 13, immediately after the Warsaw Summit meeting These meetings help us keep Ukraine in our focus and communicate our important messages, but at the same time find ways to explore how transparency can be increased and risks reduced. The Russians are engaging in increasingly dangerous military activities from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea region and we have to continue to seek ways to prevent any undesirable incident that may lead to escalation.
“We received some proposals from the Russian side, which are being studied, and I am sure that there will be future occasions for NATO-Russia Counsel to return to these proposals. But in any case there are mechanisms and established formats which should be continually strengthened. The Vienna document, for instance, is a very important text which provides transparency for military activity and exercises. We encourage the Russian Federation to engage properly to modernize this document.”
But you see anyway Russia is having a lot of snap exercises. From the other side some experts say that the decision to send four battalions to Poland and the Baltic states is not sufficient and that NATO should show stronger deterrence towards Russia, i.e. send even more troops and equipment so that Russia does not even think about attacking the Baltic countries. Could you, please, comment on that?
“The four battalions should not be analyzed in isolation. They are a complementary element as I explained earlier, with the tripling of the NATO response force, with the spearhead force at its core. It is deployable on short notice, supported by eight headquarters and tailored assurance measures. All of these are different components of a bigger picture. And we have to see the big picture. All this would definitely strengthen the defense capabilities of Allies but it is also value added for strengthening deterrence.”
What conditions should Russia fulfill to be invited back to the discussions of Euro-Atlantic security architecture from Vancouver to Vladivostok?
“In the Euro-Atlantic security structure, there are fundamental principles and commitments that have already been agreed upon. I do not think that there is any need to revise these solid, long-standing principles and commitments. Unfortunately, these commitments, of which Russia Federation is a party, were violated. Until the time that these violations are reversed, there is no way that we can go back to business as usual. There is no necessity to reinvent the wheel. The commitments are there.
“I will give you one example. The Helsinki final Act, Paris charter, established the fundamental principles and commitments that should govern the security of Euro-Atlantic region. Principles like respecting sovereignty and territorial integrity, and the inviolability of recognized borders. These are so important that all countries should abide by.”
Recently many European politicians have raised the topic of “Shengen of defense” which in fact means creating of European army. The Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported that it had obtained a copy of a six-page position paper, jointly written by French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and his German counterpart, Ursula von der Leyen. The document calls for the establishment of a “common and permanent” European military headquarters, as well as the creation of EU military structures, including an EU Logistics Command and an EU Medical Command. It may seem like there is a new division inside the Alliance, and that Russia could benefit from it. What is NATO’s position on this?
“First of all we should be patient and have a thorough analysis of what these proposals represent. In any case, there are also important ways that NATO and the EU can complement each other and still prevent any duplication of efforts. I am sure that these principles would be recognized. During the Warsaw Summit, NATO and the EU signed a joint declaration bringing joint cooperation to another level. NATO is a fundamental organization for security and defense. Whatever the EU is going to do, it will, I am sure, take into account how our work can be complementary and avoid any duplication.”
