Gul to represent Turkey at NATO's 25th summit

Turkish President Abdullah Gul will represent Turkey with a committee at North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) 25th summit meeting in Chicago. The summit, where heads of states and governments, cabinet ministers, other high-ranking government officials will be attending, is defined as NATO's broadest participation so far. President Gul, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkish Minister of National Defense Ismet Yilmaz and several government officials will travel to the USA on May 18. President Gul will have several bilateral meetings during the summit, including with newly-elected French President Francois Hollande.More than 60 heads of state and government will meet to discuss security and stability in the Euro-Atlantic area and strengthening NATO's network of partners across the globe. The summit will also focus on smart defense system, announcement of the ballistic missile defense system capability and delivering on decisions taken at the Lisbon Summit in November 2010. Afghanistan is another issue to be discussed at the Chicago summit. NATO expressed its support for Afghanistan beyond 2014, when the gradual transition of security responsibility from ISAF troops to Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) will fully be implemented and the ISAF mission will come to a close. By that time, the ISAF mission is evolving from a combat to a support role. In 2013, the ANSF will be in the lead for combat operations across the country. With Turkey's attempts, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zerdari will attend the Afghanistan meeting at the summit. NATO countries will have a talk with officials of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro and Georgia to deliver their message over four countries' membership. During the summit, members of NATO will also discuss the current situation in Syria. Ballistic missile defence system capability Turkey is closely concerned about the announcement of ballistic missile defence system capability. NATO radar system was erected at the Kurecik town of south-eastern province of Malatya a while ago. In early 2010, NATO acquired the first phase of an initial capability to protect Alliance forces against ballistic missile threats. At the November 2010 NATO Summit in Lisbon, leaders decided to develop a ballistic missile defence capability to pursue its core task of collective defense. To this end, they decided that the scope of the current active defence program's command, control and communication capabilities will be expanded beyond the capability to protect forces to include NATO European populations and territory. Turkish officials say the NATO's radar system erected in the souht-eastern province of Malatya does not target any country. The Deputy Undersecretary of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mehmet Gucuk had said earlier in May the NATO radar system was intended for "defense purposes only". "Any country unwilling to fire missiles against Turkey needs not be concerned about this defense system," Gucuk had indicated. The authorised body that allows entrance to the Kurecik establishment is "only Turkish Defense Ministry", says Turkish officials. NATO's strategic air and sea-lift capabilities contains four stages. First stage was erecting early-warning radar system at Kurecik town in Malatya while deploying elements in Romania is the second one. Deploying other elements in Poland in 2018 and completion of the ballistic missile system program in 2020 are the other stages. A Turkish general will be given authority at the headquarters of the missile defence system.