MJIP Compass features an interview with Emir Abbas Gürbüz, Secretary General of the Turkish Atlantic Council, examining the political meaning of the 2026 Ankara NATO Summit, Türkiye’s role within NATO, and the future of the Alliance.
Section: MJIP Compass I In Focus
Interview by: Burak Dikici, Editor-in-Chief
Date: July 2026
The Political Meaning of the Ankara NATO Summit
The Ankara NATO Summit was hosted in Türkiye at a time of major security challenges for the Alliance. Beyond the official declarations, what do you think was the main political message of holding the summit in Ankara?
Hosting the summit in Ankara carried a message that went well beyond protocol. At a moment when the Alliance is stretched across several theaters, choosing Türkiye, NATO's southeastern anchor and the guardian of the Turkish Straits, reaffirmed that Allied security is indivisible, and that the southern and southeastern dimensions of that security are not secondary to the eastern flank. For Türkiye, it signaled recognition: recognition of a country that fields one of the Alliance's largest militaries, anchors Black Sea security, and whose defense industry has become an Allied asset rather than merely a national one. For the Alliance as a whole, holding the summit here projected cohesion and trust at a time when adversaries are betting on Allied division. As we read it at ATA Türkiye, the main political message was unity through diversity: an alliance of this breadth holds together precisely because it takes each member's threat perception seriously.
Türkiye’s Wider Security Perspective
Türkiye often connects NATO security with issues such as terrorism, instability in the Middle East, the Black Sea, and the Eastern Mediterranean. Do you think the Ankara Summit helped other NATO members better understand Türkiye’s wider security perspective?
Türkiye has argued for years that security must be understood in 360 degrees. No ally sits at the intersection of as many instability vectors as we do: the war-affected Black Sea, a volatile Middle East, the fragilities of the Eastern Mediterranean, and the persistent threat of terrorism on our own borders. Bringing the summit to Ankara created something that communiqués alone cannot, namely proximity and empathy. It is one thing to read about a threat in a briefing; it is another to discuss it in the capital that lives with it daily. We believe the summit helped allies see the Black Sea, the Levant and the Eastern Mediterranean not as distant “out-of-area” concerns but as integral to Euro-Atlantic security. That said, understanding is a process, not an event. Divergences will remain, particularly on counterterrorism, where Türkiye still expects fuller solidarity. But the direction of travel is positive, and sustaining that understanding between summits is precisely why public diplomacy of the kind ATA Türkiye conducts exists.
Public Opinion and Mutual Perceptions
Public opinion in Türkiye can sometimes be critical of NATO, especially because of crises, sanctions, and disagreements with allies. What do you think is the biggest misunderstanding about NATO in Türkiye, and about Türkiye within NATO?
The two misunderstandings mirror each other. Inside Türkiye, the most common misperception is that NATO is a one-way street, an alliance that expects Turkish commitment while withholding solidarity, especially on terrorism and in moments of crisis. This underestimates how much Türkiye shapes the Alliance from within, and how genuinely collective security serves Turkish interests. Within NATO, the mirror-image misunderstanding is that Türkiye is a “difficult” or “drifting” ally, and that its independent diplomacy signals disloyalty. In reality, Türkiye's search for strategic autonomy is a rational response to a uniquely exposed geography, and it has consistently honored its Article 5 obligations. An ally that talks to everyone is not one that has left the room; it is often the one able to deliver what others cannot. Closing this perception gap is the core of our mission at ATA Türkiye: to explain NATO honestly to the Turkish public, and to explain Türkiye honestly to the Alliance.
NATO and the Changing Economic Order
The liberal economic order is facing serious pressure from protectionism, great-power competition, supply chain risks, and economic sanctions. How should NATO think about security in a world where economic interdependence no longer always creates stability?
The comfortable assumption of the post-Cold War decades, that economic interdependence produces stability, no longer holds. Interdependence has itself become a weapon: energy, supply chains, semiconductors, critical minerals and the financial system are now instruments of coercion. NATO is not, and should not become, an economic organization; that work belongs to the EU, the G7 and national governments. But the Alliance cannot be indifferent to economic security, because resilience is now a component of deterrence. A member whose critical infrastructure, defense-industrial base or energy supply can be switched off is one whose Article 5 commitment can be eroded without a shot being fired. NATO's task is therefore to treat resilience, supply-chain security and critical-infrastructure protection as strategic concerns, coordinating with the EU rather than duplicating it. Türkiye has a distinctive role here: as an energy transit hub, a rising defense producer, and a node on the emerging connectivity corridors between Asia and Europe.
NATO’s Future Role
NATO was created for a very different international system, but today it faces cyber threats, disinformation, climate-related risks, emerging technologies, and conflicts beyond the Euro-Atlantic area. In your view, what kind of Alliance does NATO need to become in the next decade?
NATO's core must not change: it remains a collective-defense alliance, and Article 5 is its foundation. What must change is everything around that core. Over the next decade the Alliance must become faster, more technologically competitive and more resilient, able to contest the cyber and cognitive domains, keep pace in artificial intelligence, autonomy, space and quantum, and treat disinformation and the climate-security nexus as real strategic variables rather than footnotes. It must remain a 360-degree alliance, giving the south and southeast the same seriousness as the east. Above all it must preserve political cohesion, because technology is worthless without the will to act together. Türkiye is well placed to help shape this Alliance: a young population, a maturing defense industry, and a geography that touches nearly every one of NATO's challenges. The NATO of the next decade should look less like a static shield and more like a networked, adaptive community of democracies, anchored in the same purpose that founded it.
Acknowledgments
MJIP Compass extends its sincere thanks to the Turkish Atlantic Council (ATA Türkiye) for its contribution to this interview and for sharing its insights on the 2026 Ankara NATO Summit, Türkiye’s role within the Alliance, and the future of transatlantic security.
Established in 1965 as the Turkish branch of the Atlantic Treaty Association, which was founded in 1954, the Turkish Atlantic Council works to protect Türkiye's interests within NATO and to ensure that Turkish positions are correctly understood by allied countries and relevant experts. ATA Türkiye carries out its work in direct contact with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Türkiye and its relevant units.
ATA Türkiye conducts research and analysis on foreign policy, security, and defense issues related to the Atlantic Alliance. It also organizes seminars, summits, conferences, roundtable meetings, and workshops that address Türkiye's security and foreign policy agenda on both national and international platforms. From the 1980s through 2015, the association organized the Antalya Security Conferences, which brought together NATO decision-makers. Since 2018, this tradition has continued under the name of the Turkish Atlantic Security Conferences (TASC), which now serves as one of ATA Türkiye's main platforms for discussing critical Alliance issues with decision-makers, academics, and experts.
The Turkish Atlantic Council’s work engages politicians, decision-makers, government officials, diplomats, academics, researchers, think tank experts, media professionals, and civil society representatives. The association also prioritizes the development of the next generation of security and foreign policy experts through its youth branch, YATA Türkiye, which reaches students and young professionals through internship programs and international networks.
Founded in 1965, ATA Türkiye remains committed to strengthening transatlantic dialogue among NATO’s 32 members. Its mission is to protect Türkiye's interests within NATO, ensure that Turkish theses are correctly understood by allied countries and relevant experts, and strengthen transatlantic dialogue. Its vision is to serve as a bridge that increases mutual understanding and trust between Türkiye and NATO allies while contributing to the future of the Atlantic Alliance.
ATA Türkiye's work is guided by the principles of impartiality, academic rigor, policy impact, and international perspective.
More information about ATA Türkiye: https://tak.org.tr/en/
