Germany’s deputy defence minister Nils Schmid said this week’s NATO summit will provide an opportunity to address key alliance challenges, while also highlighting Türkiye’s growing role within NATO and in Europe’s security and defence.
“Türkiye plays a vital role in NATO and for European security. And this has been demonstrated over the course of the last (few) years,” Schmid said.
“Security in the Black Sea, stability at the southern flank of NATO can only be provided through Türkiye and its armed forces. So Türkiye has always been an essential element of the NATO defence posture and will remain so.”
He added: “And this is also clear with regard to the Middle East. And that's why the Ankara Summit is a good demonstration of Turkey's essential role inside NATO now.”
Schmid also said Germany is exploring closer cooperation with Türkiye on the defence industry as it seeks to ensure European allies take on more responsibility for Europe’s defence and security.
He said this week’s Defence Industry Forum, to be held on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara, will be a key opportunity for discussions among European, German and Turkish defence companies.
“We see that Türkiye's defence industry has grown over the last years. And we've seen that there are new technologies evolving in the field of drones, but also deep precision strikes. And so, we are exploring different possibilities,” Schmid said.
He named cooperation on long-range missiles as one of the potential areas, to help close gaps in Europe’s long-range missile capabilities.
“We are looking at different options for long-range missiles. And as (Defence) Minister Boris Pistorius said, of course, we are also looking at ideas coming from Türkiye,” Schmid said.
“The leading principle for us is to fill capability gaps as quickly as possible. And you may have different technological options available to fulfill some of the capability targets,” he said, referring to alternative projects European allies are discussing to address gaps left by the US drawdown of forces.
“We have learned to have a wider look at potential cooperation partners. And in this context, of course, as Minister Pistorius said, we are also looking at Turkish products,” Schmid added, confirming earlier media reports of German interest in Yildirimhan and Tayfun missiles, which are currently under development.
