NATO Summit Meeting of Heads of State and Government, hosted by the United States of America was held in Chicago on 20-21 May 2012. Turkey was represented in the Summit by a delegation headed by H.E. Mr. Abdullah Gül, President of the Republic, which included also H.E. Mr. Ahmet Davutoğlu, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and H.E. Mr. İsmet Yılmaz, Minister of National Defense.

At the first day of the Summit, priority topics on the agenda of the Alliance were discussed. In this regard, NATO leaders discussed Defense Package and Smart Defense, Ballistic Missile Defense System, Alliance’s Deterrence and Defense Posture Review (DDPR). At the end of the meetings, NATO’s Ballistic Missile Defense Interim Capability was declared in line with the decision taken at the Lizbon Summit. In this context, Turkey has made a significant contribution on the basis of Alliance solidarity by hosting an early warning radar in Malatya’s Kürecik district.

On the second day of the summit, situation in Afghanistan was addressed. Non-NATO ISAF contributing nations as well as Russian Federation, Japan, Central Asian countries, Pakistan and the officials from the United Nations and European Union attended the meeting where the support to be provided to Afghanistan after Afghan forces have assumed full security responsibility across the country by the end of 2014 was discussed. In this respect, the Heads of State decided on a new NATO-led mission which will focus on training, advising and assisting Afghan forces. H.E. Mr. Gül, President of Turkey highlighted the role of Turkey within ISAF as well as Turkey’s current military and civil assistance to Afghanistan and underlined that Turkey would continue to provide assistance to Afghanistan even after the NATO operation is accomplished.

On the same day, NATO Heads of State and Government met with met with the leaders of a group of partner nations who have recently made particular political, operational and financial contributions to NATO-led operations. The leaders of Australia, Austria, Finland, Georgia, Japan, Jordan, Republic of Korea, Morocco, New Zealand, Qatar, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates attended the meeting. Moreover, a Foreign Ministers level meeting was held with the participation of 4 partner nations who were given NATO membership perspective.

On the other hand, Foreign Minister Davutoğlu in Chicago also held bilateral talks with Foreign Ministers of New Zealand, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada and Georgia as well as the EU High Representative for Foreign Policy. Foreign Minister Davutoğlu and National Defense Minister Mr. İsmet Yılmaz also met with Mr. Fatmir Besimi, Defense Minister of Macedonia.

Turkey's Security (NATO)