The Presidency’s Directorate of Communications and Istanbul-based think tank Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA) hosted the "Ankara Moment: Strategic Positioning For A Resilient Alliance” conference in the Turkish capital on Thursday.

The event was an opportunity for an insight into Türkiye’s role in the alliance, whose leaders will gather in Ankara within months for a critical summit.

Addressing the conference, Defense Minister Yaşar Güler said Ankara would remain a reliable ally of NATO. "We will continue as an active contributor, a strategic balance actor and a contributor to the alliance’s transformation process,” he stressed.

Türkiye and the U.S. are key members of NATO, with the former having the alliance’s second-biggest army. Under President Donald Trump, however, Washington is considering an exit from the alliance.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said Trump was "clearly disappointed" with several member states of the trans-Atlantic alliance during a White House meeting on Wednesday. Speaking to broadcaster CNN, Rutte described the talks as an open discussion between "two good friends," but did not disclose whether a potential U.S. withdrawal from NATO was discussed.

Trump, meanwhile, said on his Truth Social platform: "NATO WASN'T THERE WHEN WE NEEDED THEM, AND THEY WON'T BE THERE IF WE NEED THEM AGAIN." The U.S. president wrote that allies should remember Greenland, which he described as a "BIG, POORLY RUN, PIECE OF ICE."

Trump's repeated threats earlier this year to potentially annex Greenland, a Danish territory of strategic importance, have strained relations between Europe and the U.S. In recent days, comments by Trump raised concerns about a possible U.S. exit from NATO, amid his criticism of what he perceives as insufficient support from alliance partners for the Iran conflict. Any withdrawal would require a two-thirds majority in the U.S. Senate, which is considered highly unlikely.

Güler said Türkiye has been one of the "rare” allies of NATO that can manage rapid force response with a 360-degree approach, in addition to its military strength in the region, coupled with NATO’s deterrence and defense concept. He noted that Türkiye has evolved from a "flank country” of the Cold War era to a central ally able to provide security to Europe, reiterating its efficient role in NATO missions and operations from Afghanistan to Bosnia-Herzegovina, from the Mediterranean Sea to the Baltic region.

Pointing out that Türkiye is a strong and respected member of the alliance, as well as the country with the second-largest army, Güler noted that it fulfills its responsibilities in military training, exercises, operations and other duties with great success, setting an example for others.

"Türkiye is not a country that merely contributes forces to NATO missions. It is one of the primary allies increasing the operational efficiency of the alliance across a wide range of areas, including training, joint planning, exercises, and command-and-control processes. The most recent and concrete example of this is the Steadfast Dart-26 exercise. We participated in this comprehensive NATO exercise with a joint force of 2,067 personnel and the Naval Task Group. The deployment of these elements to Europe, 6,450 kilometers away from our country, their active role in NATO and invitation exercises in the region, and their participation in Flexible Deterrence Options activities have been the clearest indicators of our support for NATO's unity and solidarity,” he said.

On July 7-8, Türkiye will host the leaders' summit of the alliance for the second time in more than two decades. Heads of state and top figures from member countries will be in Ankara for the summit. Some 6,000 participants are expected to attend the event. Preparations are underway in the Turkish capital for the event, where alliance leaders will likely discuss its future as conflicts proliferate across the world, forcing them to bolster defense expenditures.

Türkiye this year marks the 74th anniversary of its admission to NATO. It is the only country in NATO’s "southern flank” with a sizeable military power and a gateway to the Middle East and wider Asia. Security of the Black Sea also largely depends on Türkiye, especially amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which threatens maritime security.

In the last summit in The Hague last year, NATO members agreed to spend some 5% of their GDP in defense expenditures by 2035. Ankara will be the stage where the first progress reports on this massive investment drive are measured. A recent NATO report showed military spending rose by a fifth year-on-year in 2025 to $574 billion. Trump has repeatedly sought higher defense spending by the alliance's 32 member states, pushing Europe to take primary responsibility for its own security. With the increase by NATO's European members and Canada, all allies are now devoting more than 2% of gross domestic product to military spending, a goal set in 2014 for 2024, a NATO report said. In presenting the report, Rutte said he expected "Allies to show they are on a clear and credible path towards the 5%" when they hold their next summit in Ankara. The headline target breaks down as 3.5% on core defense spending and 1.5% on a broader range of areas such as infrastructure and cybersecurity. Only three countries met the 3.5% goal last year, Poland, Latvia and Lithuania.

All NATO countries increased their military spending last year, but three saw a slight drop in the share of spending relative to their GDP. The U.S. went from 3.30% in 2024 to 3.19%, Czechia from 2.07% to 2.01%, and Hungary from 2.21% to 2.07%. July’s summit will also be the venue for support to Ukraine, where member countries will likely review and update their commitments to help the country.

For Türkiye, the summit will additionally serve as a platform to promote its flourishing defense industry. In the past two decades, the country evolved from a mere buyer of defense technologies to an exporter of everything defense-related, from unmanned aerial vehicles to naval platforms, air defense technologies, etc.

Türkiye seeks to expand its role in NATO as a power broker, and the summit will cement it. It emerged as a key mediator in the Russia-Ukraine conflict and nowadays works for a peaceful resolution to the U.S.-Israel-Iran war. Moreover, the country aims to integrate itself more into the security architecture of Europe, which includes the bulk of NATO member states. Recently, the Ministry of National Defense announced that Ankara applied for the establishment of a multinational corps. Although it has started courting NATO’s traditional rivals more in recent years, Türkiye is firmly aligned with the alliance, as its leaders repeatedly confirmed.

Commitment to Article 5

Güler said that they expected the Ankara summit to be a platform where the alliance’s partners reaffirmed their commitment to Article 5 of the treaty, so that the NATO of the future can provide a multi-dimensional security ecosystem.

Article 5 says an attack on one member of NATO requires collective defense action by all members. Essentially, this will protect Türkiye from attacks by actors outside NATO. Speculations swirl that the next target of Israel, whose aggressive expansionism threatens the wider region, may be Türkiye. Pundits say Türkiye may invoke Article 5 in the face of such an attack, though it is unclear how the U.S. will act in he case of an attack by a non-NATO ally on a NATO ally.

"It is expected that allies concretely demonstrate the progress they have made regarding defense spending commitments and the military capability targets assigned to them, identify areas of cooperation that will facilitate reaching new capability targets and strengthening an innovative, sustainable defense industry ecosystem, and approve the defense and deterrence preparations to be presented to our leaders. Furthermore, we hope the European Union will abandon security approaches that exclude non-EU NATO allies, primarily our country, and return to its position of supporting NATO,” Güler said.

"Otherwise, we assess that this approach by the European Union will cause more damage to Europe's security and resilience than a reduction of U.S. forces in Europe. The truth is that Türkiye, with its strong defense capabilities and industry, can contribute even more to Europe's security and defense. We know many of our European friends are aware of this, and we believe others will analyze this well and exhibit a reasonable approach,” he said.