A panel titled “From The Hague to Ankara: NATO’s Future in a Transforming Global Security Environment” was organised in The Hague by our Directorate of Communications in cooperation with the Clingendael Institute.
As part of the events carried out by our Directorate of Communications in various allied countries in Europe ahead of the Extraordinary Summit of NATO Heads of State and Government, which will be hosted by Türkiye in Ankara on 7-8 July 2026, a panel titled “From The Hague to Ankara: NATO’s Future in a Transforming Global Security Environment” was organized in cooperation with the Netherlands-based Clingendael Institute and in coordination with the Embassy of the Republic of Türkiye in The Hague. The tenth of the events previously held in Madrid, Paris, London, Warsaw, Washington, Rome, Brussels, Helsinki and Berlin took place on 16 June 2026. Attending the panel were ambassadors and diplomats from more than 20 countries, representatives of various international organisations, officials from Dutch public institutions, and academics from different universities across the Netherlands.
As part of the event, the Embassy of the Republic of Türkiye in The Hague hosted a press meeting on its premises. At the meeting, which was attended by members of the national and international press based in The Hague, Presidency's Security and Foreign Policy Council Member Nurşin Ateşoğlu Güney, faculty member at Hasan Kalyoncu University Murat Aslan, and Anadolu Agency Deputy Director General and Editor-in-Chief Yusuf Özhan answered questions on the Ankara Summit, Türkiye’s contributions to NATO, and recent international issues. The meeting addressed changing global security threats, the Alliance’s security ecosystem, the value Türkiye holds for the security of NATO and the EU, and the importance of the developing defence industry.
At the panel program, the second part of the event, following the opening remarks by Clingendael Institute Director Martijn Pluim and Türkiye’s Ambassador to The Hague Fatma Ceren Yazgan, the video message of Head of Communications Prof. Burhanettin Duran was displayed. Within the framework of the Chatham House Rule, the panel held at the Clingendael Institute’s headquarters was moderated by Bart van den Berg, Programme Lead of the Clingendael Security and Defence Programme, while former NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Director of the Dutch Atlantic Commission Anna Van Zoest, Presidency's Security and Foreign Policy Council Member and faculty member at the National Intelligence Academy Nurşin Ateşoğlu Güney, faculty member at Hasan Kalyoncu University and Senior Researcher at the SETA Foundation Murat Aslan, and Anadolu Agency Deputy Director General and Editor-in-Chief Yusuf Özhan made assessments as speakers.
The panellists discussed the changing security environment, the rise of hybrid threats, the effects of artificial intelligence on the security sphere, and NATO’s capacity to adapt to these threats. Türkiye was highlighted as a prominent member of the NATO Alliance. The strategic value of Türkiye for NATO and European security, based on its possession of the second-largest army in the Alliance, its experience in the field and its advancing defence industry technologies, was underscored In the panel, it was stated that the upcoming NATO Ankara Summit will take place with critical timing in the current global security environment, and it was assessed that the Summit will be home to discussions on the future of NATO in relation to its ability to adapt to the aforementioned hybrid threats, its defence capacity, and its comprehensive security approach. It was also noted that Türkiye’s geostrategic position, its mediation capability with actors with whom NATO needs to engage, and its defence capacity highlight Türkiye’s active and constructive role within the Alliance, given its significance for NATO's southern flank and the Alliance’s security as a whole.
