James Appathurai on Georgia’s NATO Membership

I’ve seen the current exchanges in Georgia on joining the Alliance without Article 5 applying to the two regions, I don’t see an appetite in NATO to consider this," – James Appathurai, NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia made this statement on his facebook page.

“I’ve seen the current exchanges in Georgia on joining the Alliance without Article 5 applying to the two regions. In my view, there is no point in a discussion of this issue now. I don’t see an appetite in NATO to consider this, nor do I believe the current international security environment makes this idea timely. The Georgian embassy to NATO is actively promoting more Georgia in NATO, and more NATO in Georgia, with clear and concrete ideas. This is the right approach, politically and practically. And the NAC will soon be in Georgia to discuss how to further deepen our cooperation, including to help Georgia with the reforms that help it prepare for membership”,  – he wrote.

Appathurai's post responds to the former Secretary-General of NATO Anders Fogh Rasmussen's recent statement at a fifth international conference organized by the McCain Institute and the Economic Policy Research Center (EPRC) in Tbilisi. 

"We have to consider another aspect both in Georgia and within the NATO, namely, the question about Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Because if one day we consider Georgia ready to join the Alliance, we also have to make sure that Article 5 is still credible, which would require NATO to actually help Georgia if Georgia is attacked. But obviously, having unresolved border disputes with Russia in Abkhazia and South Ossetia is a problem. The question is – how could that be resolved.  I think this issue should be discussed internally in Georgia, would you, in this case,  be willing to accept such mechanism, according to which Article 5 of NATO will only cover the territory which is actually controlled by the Government of Georgia," he said.  

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By Ana Dumbadze