60 Years of Alliance: NATO and Turkey

Communist Parties supported by the Soviet Army seized power by anti-democratic means in the states that were occupied by the Soviet Union after the WWII. In those years, there was notreaty or organization to mobilize political or military solidarity among Western states against the expansionist policy that the Soviet Union was then pursuing. In this context, Britain, France, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxemburg signed the “Brussels Convention” on March 17, 1948 and agreed to unite their military capabilities under the command of Marshall Montgomery in the case that an invasion were to occur. This organization is recognized as a preliminary step to the formation of NATO, and was also the basis for the creation of the organization called “The Western European Union,” in 1955. This beginning was the West’s first attempt at developing a jointdefense organization. On April 4, 1949, North Atlantic Treaty was signed and the organization now known as “NATO” was thereby established. In addition to the original five member states of the Brussels Convention, the nations that participated in the treaty’s negotiation process, Italy, Iceland, Denmark, Norway and Portugal, also joinedthe organization. Turkey and Greece joined the alliance in 1952, Germany in 1955 and Spain in 1982. The Cold War Era was ended by the efforts of these 16 states.