\n<\/p>\n
Discussions are under way on how to manage or mitigate a possible US withdrawal from the \u201cEuropean security architecture,\u201d Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Saturday.<\/p>\n
He gave no details of the discussions, but said such a withdrawal by the United States could be \u201cdestructive\u201d for Europe if carried out in an uncoordinated way.<\/p>\n
US President Donald Trump has threatened to pull his country out of \u2060NATO after European members of \u2060the Western military alliance refused to send ships to unblock the Strait of Hormuz after the start of the US-Israeli war against Iran.<\/p>\n
Their decision compounded \u200bfriction within the bloc, which had already \u2060increased since Trump said he wanted to acquire Greenland.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are very much discussing how to manage or mitigate the withdrawal \u2060of the US from the \u200cEuropean security \u2060architecture. Not totally, but partially. Even a partial withdrawal\u2026 would be very destructive for Europe if it\u2019s not done in a coordinated way,\u201d Fidan told a \u200bpanel at a diplomacy forum in the southern Turkish province of Antalya.<\/p>\n
Fidan, \u200cwhose country is in NATO but not the European Union, said he had long voiced complaints about EU states in NATO \u201cacting like a separate club.\u201d They were taking decisions \u200bon their own, even if it contradicted the alliance\u2019s position, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou want to be a separate EU organization within NATO? Well America said \u2018I\u2019m letting you go, cutting off your \u200cties\u2019,\u201d Fidan said.<\/p>\n
Fidan \u200bcalled on allies this week to use a NATO summit in Ankara in July as an opportunity to reset ties with \u2060Trump and Washington, while preparing for \u200ca possible reduction of US involvement.<\/p>\n
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has said he \u200bunderstands Trump\u2019s frustrations with the alliance, but that a large majority of European nations has been \u200chelpful \u2060to \u2060Washington\u2019s war effort against Iran.<\/p>\n
A senior White House official \u200btold Reuters this month that Trump, as part of frustration with NATO, \u200bhad also considered the option of removing some US \u200ctroops from Europe. [Reuters]<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n