In cooperation with the Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW), a panel in Warsaw titled "The Future of NATO and Poland-Türkiye Defence Cooperation" was organised by our Directorate of Communications.
The Extraordinary Summit of NATO Heads of State and Government will be held in Ankara on 7-8 July 2026, hosted by Türkiye. On the occasion of the summit, the Directorate of Communications is organising events across the capitals of various allied European countries. In this regard, in cooperation with the Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW- Ośrodek Studiów Wschodnich), a panel titled "The Future of NATO and Poland-Türkiye Defence Cooperation" was organised.
Firstly, as part of the event, the Ambassador of the Republic of Türkiye to Warsaw, Rauf Alp Denktaş, hosted a meeting with members of the press at the embassy premises. At the meeting, also attended by Fatma Aksal, Member of the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye and Member of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, and Prof. Oktay Fırat Tanrısever, Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences at METU, questions from members of the press regarding Türkiye's approach to NATO and recent international issues were answered.
The panel, held at the Centre for Eastern Studies’ working office, was moderated by Karol Wasilewski, Head of the Türkiye, Caucasus and Central Asia Department of the Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW), whilst Fatma Aksal, Member of the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye and Member of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly; Prof. Oktay Fırat Tanrısever, Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences at METU; Damian Przeniosło, Deputy Director of the Security Policy Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland; and Justyna Gotkowska, Deputy Director at the Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW) and Head of the Security and Defence Department, shared their assessments as speakers. Rauf Alp Denktaş, Ambassador of the Republic of Türkiye to Warsaw, as well as bureaucrats, academics and representatives of think tanks involved in security and foreign policy studies in Poland, also attended the panel.
The panel noted that the current climate of global instability and conflict makes the NATO Summit, to be held in Ankara in July 2026, a critical turning point for strengthening unity, cohesion and solidarity among the Allies. The panel highlighted that the Russia-Ukraine war and the growing instability and conflict in the Middle East were deepening uncertainty and underlined the importance of the security umbrella provided by NATO for its Allies. The panel, which also addressed Türkiye’s perspective on NATO, assessed the contributions Türkiye has made to the Alliance since its founding and its strategic role within NATO.
