In addition, NATO cooperates and discusses its activities with many other non-NATO countries. The Mediterranean Dialogue was launched in 1994 to ensure similar coordination with Israel and North African countries. The Istanbul Cooperation Initiative was announced in 2004 as a dialogue forum for the Middle East, modelled on the Mediterranean Dialogue. The four participants are also connected via the Gulf Cooperation Council. [110] In June 2018, Qatar expressed its desire to join NATO. [111] However, NATO rejected membership, stating that under Article 10 of NATO`s founding treaty, only other European countries could join. [112] Qatar and NATO signed a joint security agreement in January 2018. [113] In August 1995, after the Srebrenica genocide, a two-week NATO bombing campaign, Operation Deliberate Force, began against the Republika Srpska army. [35] Further NATO airstrikes helped end the Yugoslav wars, which led to the Dayton Agreement in November 1995.
[35] Under this agreement, NATO deployed a UN-mandated peacekeeping force called IFOR as part of Operation Joint Endeavor. Nearly 60,000 NATO troops were supported by non-NATO forces as part of this peacekeeping mission. It was transferred to the smaller SFOR, which began with 32,000 troops and ran from December 1996 to December 2004, when operations were then transferred to the European Union Althea Force. [36] Following the example of its member states, NATO began awarding a service medal, the NATO Medal, for these operations. [37] The Alliance has shown unity: on April 16, 2003, NATO agreed to take command of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which included troops from 42 countries. The decision was taken at the request of Germany and the Netherlands, the two countries that led ISAF at the time of the agreement, and the nineteen NATO ambassadors unanimously accepted it. The transfer of control to NATO took place on 11 August, marking the first time in NATO`s history that it has undertaken a mission outside the North Atlantic. [48] The new members of the Alliance came mainly from Central and Eastern Europe, including former members of the Warsaw Pact. Membership in the Alliance is governed by individual membership action plans and requires the consent of each current member. NATO currently has a candidate country that is about to join the Alliance: Bosnia and Herzegovina. After lengthy discussions, Allies agreed on the term “contact countries” in 2000.
In 2012, the Alliance expanded this group, which meets to discuss issues such as anti-piracy and technology exchanges under the names of “partners from around the world” or “global partners”. [115] [116] Australia and New Zealand, two contact countries, are also members of the AUSCANNZUKUS strategic alliance, and similar regional or bilateral agreements between contact countries and NATO members also support cooperation. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said NATO must “deal with the rise of China” by working closely with Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea. [117] Colombia is NATO`s youngest partner and Colombia has access to all of the cooperation activities that NATO offers to its partners. Colombia was the first and only country in Latin America to cooperate with NATO. [118] On August 16, the European Union (EU) A comprehensive set of agreements with NATO was signed in December 2002 as part of the Berlin Plus Agreement. This agreement gave the EU the possibility to use NATO funds in case it wants to act independently in the event of an international crisis, provided that NATO itself does not want to act – the so-called “right of first refusal”. [109] For example, Article 42(7) of the 1982 Treaty of Lisbon provides that “where a Member State is the victim of armed aggression on its territory, the other Member States are obliged to provide it with assistance and assistance by all means in their power”. The treaty applies worldwide to certain regions, while Article 6 limits NATO to operations north of the Tropic of Cancer. The NATO PA interacts directly with the parliamentary structures of the national governments of member states that appoint permanent members or ambassadors to NATO. The NATO Parliamentary Assembly is composed of legislators from the member states of the North Atlantic Alliance and thirteen associate members. However, it is officially a different structure from NATO and aims to bring together parliamentarians from NATO countries to discuss security policy in the NATO Council.
The North Atlantic Treaty was largely inactive until the Korean War ushered in the creation of NATO to implement it through an integrated military structure: this included the formation of the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Powers in Europe (SHAPE) in 1951, which adopted the military structures and plans of the Western Union. [11] In 1952, the position of Secretary General of NATO was created as the organization`s highest civilian. This year also saw NATO`s first major naval exercises, Exercise Mainbrace and the accession of Greece and Turkey to the organization. [12] [13] After the London and Paris conferences, West Germany was allowed to rearm militarily when it joined NATO in May 1955, which was an important factor in the creation of the Soviet-dominated Warsaw Pact, which delineated the two opposing sides of the Cold War. The Partnership for Peace (PfP) programme was launched in 1994 and is based on individual bilateral relations between each partner country and NATO: each country can choose the extent of its participation. [105] Members include all current and former members of the Commonwealth of Independent States. [106] The Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC) was first established on 29 September. May 1997 and is a forum for regular coordination, consultation and dialogue among the fifty participants. [107] The PPP programme is considered to be the operational wing of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership. [105] Other third countries have also been contacted to participate in some PfP framework activities, such as Afghanistan.
[108] The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is a military and political alliance established by the Washington Treaty. NATO aims to promote democratic values and enables its members to consult and work together on defence and security issues in order to resolve problems, build trust and prevent conflicts in the long term. Article 5 of the Washington Treaty states that an armed attack on one of the member states is considered an attack on all members and that other members would support the attacked member, if necessary with armed forces. .
