Footsteps of the Third World War and the Role of NATO (3)

September 11, which had a devastating effect on the peace environment in international relations, also changed the way NATO and its member countries perceive the world. NATO; It has put it at the center of the discourse that this terrorist attack threatens the whole world as a global phenomenon that transcends borders, and that all international organizations besides states should act in cooperation and solidarity and develop a common measure, and started to act with this understanding. Moreover, for the first time in its history, it has decided to apply Article 5 to counter terrorist attacks in real terms. Let's open this up a bit.
With the 1999 Concept, the main problems that the alliance was expected to tackle were listed as follows: risks arising from internal political instability such as political repression, human rights violations, religious and ethnic conflict, and economic problems: migration and denial of access to vital resources, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, terrorism and organized crime. . In this respect, NATO has also taken on the apostolate of the understanding that the current peace can be preserved if the basic values ​​of Western civilization such as democracy, equality, individual freedom, and the rule of law are exported to the whole world. NATO has developed the approach of preserving the freedoms, common heritage and civilizations of all societies, especially the member states, increasing their prosperity and stability, and maintaining peace and security together. NATO; It has made it a priority to act with the aim of defending the shared values ​​of the West and spreading these values.
NATO as an organization based on the norms and values ​​set out in the preamble to the alliance treaty; It was founded against the Soviets, which began to pose a threat to the social order and way of life of the West. During the Cold War, the "Sovietization" policies of the Eastern European nations were perceived as a threat to Western values, and in this sense, attention was paid to the development of a common identity that would keep the member nations together for the unity of the Alliance.
After the Cold War, in order to protect the common interests and fundamental values ​​of the member states and to continue to protect their security in general, all possible 'others' instead of the 'other' were accepted as threats by NATO without specifying their names. In this direction, the capability-based development of NATO's collective military talent pool has been emphasized, and the approach of using these capabilities against the threats and risks emerging anywhere in the world in the form of preventive intervention when necessary (out of area use) has been imported into the NATO concept.
Since its establishment, NATO has always been an organization that keeps the issue of the use of force outside the field on its agenda. The out-of-area problem, which first emerged in 1958 when the USA wanted to use Incirlik Air Base in the Lebanon intervention, was finally "solved" after the Cold War, with NATO's search for new mission areas.
Thus, NATO; In the changing security structure of the world, acting as an organization formed by 'security-providing countries' has taken a historic step towards a change of attitude, such as applying military force to 'security-consuming countries' or failed states, with preventive intervention when necessary. In this framework, the way for out-of-area operations has been paved. From now on, NATO can send forces to this country, if necessary, in the context of defending Taiwan against China, for example today, if its members take a joint decision. From now on, the limits in NATO's understanding of operations and joint security have been lifted. Now, we can say that the whole world has theoretically become NATO's field of intervention.
In line with the perspective we have tried to summarize above, Afghanistan, with the claim that it has become the home of al-Qaeda, which organized the September 11 attack, was seen as a field where the NATO concept adopted in November 1999, under the leadership of the USA, can be tested. Assuming that the terrorist attack on the USA was committed to the whole of NATO, it was decided to operate the 5th article on October 4, 2001.
At this point, we find it useful to refer to Articles 3, 5 and 6 of the Treaty of Alliance, which include the measures to be taken against an attack on the member states. In the third article, it is stated that the individual and joint defense capabilities of the member countries will be developed; In the fifth article emphasizing the common defense, it is stated that “any attack on any of the member states shall be deemed to have been made against all member states” and “in case of such an attack, the attacked party or parties ( by NATO) will be assisted”. The sixth article, with reference to the fifth article, drew the geographical boundaries of the alliance.
As a requirement of these articles, in line with the request and direction of the United States, NATO's military character should be strengthened in order to ensure security and stability in Afghanistan. It was decided on April 16, 2003, that the military forces of 42 countries, consisting of NATO members and partners, would serve in Afghanistan in coordination with the American forces, under the name of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). Together with ISAF, for the first time in NATO's history, the Alliance was involved in an operation outside the North Atlantic Region. The ISAF operation, which was initiated to prevent Afghanistan from becoming a country where terrorism comes to life again, was "completed" as of December 2014.
Parallel to the intervention in Afghanistan, NATO launched Operation Active Endeavor (OAE) in 2001 to combat terrorism in the Mediterranean.
In addition, in accordance with the conditions that emerged after the US operation in Iraq in 2003, NATO; undertook the training of Iraqi security forces, whose re-establishment phase was initiated. NATO Training Mission - Iraq / NTM-I was terminated on 17 December 2011.
As part of NATO's Anti-Piracy in the Gulf of Aden, Operation Ocean Shield started to be carried out on 17 August 2009. With this operation, it was aimed to keep the Somali pirates under control, who harmed the maritime trade, and to protect the allied ships that were distributing aid in Somalia within the framework of the World Food Programme.
With the Arab Spring, NATO intervened in Libya in order to prevent civilian casualties, in line with the UN decision taken on March 17, 2011, regarding the violence that broke out in Libya under Gaddafi's rule. In this context, a "no-fly zone" was established over Libya. At the same time, a blockade and an arms embargo were implemented against NATO naval elements and Libyan government forces. On the other hand, only 8 NATO member countries wanted to be included in the Libya operation. The 'reluctance' seen in the majority of NATO members was questioned at the Brussels Summit on 10 June 2011, and even the claims that the organization's life was coming to an end came to the fore. With Gaddafi's murder, NATO's mission was largely completed and the "integrity" of the alliance was preserved.
Similar to the NATO operations launched in the early 2000s, they are still being carried out today. NATO; It continues to maintain its effectiveness and importance as a worldwide political and military organization by demonstrating its potential to intervene in the crises emerging in regions/countries such as the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan under the leadership of the USA. In the fight against international terrorism, some operations are carried out in the Mediterranean, and NATO acts with the understanding of seeing the Aegean and Black Sea as an extension of these operations.
In addition, NATO; since the 2000s, it has tried to increase its effectiveness in areas other than the operations listed above. In a place that was once the 'territory' of the Warsaw Pact, with the 2006 Riga (Latvia) Summit, NATO declared for the first time in its history that it started to give priority to the issue of energy security. The emergence of new sea and air routes in the Arctic caused by global warming has led to an increase in competition between countries close to this region on a number of issues, including sovereignty rights. In this sense, NATO has shown that it has an interest and relevance to the polar regions as well.
In short, wherever there is a rising problem, the USA wants to get involved for strategic, political, economic and geopolitical reasons, and in most cases tries to drag NATO along with it. However, this situation has started to cause some discomfort, especially among Western European countries. Seeing this, the USA, in our opinion, played a catalyst role behind the scenes, along with other factors, in the UK's departure from the European Union with Brexit. When considered together with the global interests of the British; It paved the way for the British Commonwealth to engage in the Indo-Pacific region together with the USA. France, which had 'braked' the USA in NATO, was excluded from the AUKUS structuring in this region and Australia's nuclear submarine supply project, and was left out of the game.
On the other hand, NATO prefers to be involved in the justification of any operation it participates in, by using the basic values ​​of humanity and/or Western values. With the PfP activities developed since the 1990s and used as a close contact mechanism with suitable countries other than NATO members, creating a 'group of countries' that will want to be involved in possible operations provides an opportunity for a broad participation. This mechanism was tried for the first time in the processes of intervention in the crises that emerged in Southeast Europe and the Balkans in the 1990s, thus NATO continued to gain new partners. Since the basic slogan is "cooperation and solidarity for peace", non-member countries felt the need to support NATO's intervention in crises without question.
NATO and the EU; In the strategic environment where Eastern Europe was also liberated. a strives to put into effect a global agenda, believing that the conditions are suitable for realizing the ideal of an integrated Europe around democratic values. Meanwhile, towards the middle of the 2000s, the 'Rose Revolution' in Georgia and the 'Orange Revolution' in Ukraine; When evaluated together with the new Black Sea coastal NATO members Bulgaria and Romania, it allowed NATO to extend its sphere of influence to the northern and eastern shores of the Black Sea. Thus, the Black Sea region has quickly become an organic part of Europe, and NATO's contribution to the stability and security of this region has begun to be described as a 'natural duty'. In particular, the integration of new NATO member coastal countries into NATO defense planning, the development of the military capabilities of these countries, as well as the inclusion of Ukraine and Georgia as potential NATO members in the future have been discussed.
In recent years, the Russian Federation has been faced with a kind of 'containment' by NATO, as it was in the 1950s, or it is said that there is such a reality. In our next article, we will discuss NATO activities around the Russian Federation.
(To be continued)
References:
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Yiğittepe L. (2017) NATO Security Policies and Strategies, Cinius Publications, 2nd Edition, Istanbul.