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NATO-EU cooperation and reduction in armed forces to be discussed at Lisbon summit

20 November 2010 07:38 (UTC +04:00)

Lisbon. Fuad Gulubeyli â€“ APA. NATO-European Union cooperation will be mainly discussed at the Lisbon summit of NATO today. APAâ€™s Europe bureau correspondent reports from Lisbon that Turkish President Abdullah Gul is also attending the discussions. Turkey opposes the expression of NATO-EU â€œstrategic cooperationâ€ attributing it to the non-resolution of the Cyprus problem. Moreover, according to the new strategic concept that will be adopted during the NATOâ€™s summit, the alliance wants some structural changes and military reduction inside the organization. According to the new concept, reductions will be made in the NATO Armed Forces, the personnel will be reduced from 13 000 to 8 950. It means that military headquarters of the organization in several countries will be closed. Turkey says it intends to preserve the military headquarters in Izmir.

Gradual withdrawal of NATO military forces from Afghanistan is one of the main issues discussed during the summit. 130 400 servicemen from 48 countries are serving in Afghanistan. 790 servicemen from Turkey, 95 from Azerbaijan are serving in Afghanistan.