North Atlantic Treaty Organization

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) ( French : OTAN, Organisation du Traité de l'Atlantique Nord) is a post World War II organization established to support the North Atlantic Treaty in Washington on April 4 1949 was signed. The NATO headquarters is located in Brussels .

Contents

 * 1 Parties
 * 1.1 Member States
 * 2 Mutual commitments
 * 3 Organization
 * 4 Brief chronology
 * Five Secretaries-General
 * 6 Relations with other countries

Parties
Initially did Belgium , Canada , Denmark , France , Iceland , Italy , Luxembourg , Netherlands , Norway , Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States along. Later that Turkey and Greece (February 1952), the Federal Republic of Germany (1955) and Spain (1982) by. After the end of the Cold War locks Czech Republic , Poland andHungary themselves (12 March 1999), as well as Estonia , Latvia , Lithuania , Slovakia , Slovenia , Romania and Bulgaria (29 March 2004). France made between 1966 and 1996 are not part of the NATO military bodies; from 1996 to April 3, 2009, the French made a reservation with regard to military action. Since April 4, 2009 France was again a full member of NATO.

At the NATO summit in Bucharest on April 3, 2008, the leaders of NATO member states have agreed that Croatia and Albania could join NATO. Both countries became members on 1 April 2009. Membership in Macedonia came to a veto by Greece, due to objections from Greece to the constitutional name of Macedonia. Also aboutUkraine and Georgia, there was no consensus. The NATO decision only unanimously. The United States wished their membership, while some European members were against. Membership of Georgia was put on the back burner because it is involved in territorial conflicts and has no control over parts of its own territory. For the same reason EU member Cyprus become a member of NATO.

Mutual commitments
The North Atlantic Treaty is a treaty of mutual defense and military cooperation between the armies of controls the western countries, especially initially as a counterforce against the communist countries of theEastern Bloc . Which in turn formed in 1955, the Warsaw Pact . The core of the treaty is Article 5, which states that in case of an attack on one of the states in Europe or North America, this will be perceived by others as an attack on all, and that all countries will help (together ) to repel the aggressor. [1]

Since the end of the Cold War has diminished NATO's military importance. Member States conceded the peace dividend and reduced their forces. NATO has since been in a transformation phase, in which new tasks such as fighting terrorism , proliferation and anarchy are on the agenda. In the top of Prague in 2002 and the summit of Istanbul have made ​​agreements in 2004.

Article 5 is to implement them now once: after the attacks on September 11, 2001 in New York and Washington. NATO, the United States shortly after the attacks assisted by AWACS -radarvliegtuigen. OperationEnduring Freedom on the other hand was, and is not a NATO mission.

In February 2003, NATO member Turkey called on other NATO members under Article 4 of the Washington Treaty, which provides for consultation between the treaty contemporaries like the area, political independence or security of a Member State is threatened. Turkey took this step in connection with the tense situation surrounding neighboring Iraq . Several Western countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, was about to fall within about Iraq Saddam Hussein to expel.

Assistance to Turkey on February 10, 2003 were blocked by a veto from France, Germany and Belgium. On February 16, 2003 announced Secretary General George Robertson, however, that they had reached agreement, with France, which has long had assigned a special place in NATO and was no longer a full member, but not yet participated. The aid granted to Turkey were put in motion. Earlier formally invoke Article 4 have been granted immediately.

Organization
The Secretary-General is the highest civilian function of the organization, traditionally filled by a European. Since October 1, 2014, the former Prime Minister of Norway Jens Stoltenberg, the chairman of the North Atlantic Council (NAC) composed of permanent representatives of the Member States. The NAC meets every Wednesday and take the political decisions by unanimity. The Council is assisted by the Military Committee, where all Member States with military are represented. The top military commander of NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), hitherto always an American. He has this title, for historical reasons, but is also commander of NATO troops outside Europe.

The political headquarters of NATO is located in Brussels, where the NAR is located. The first location was in London . This was followed by moves to the Palais de Chaillot in Paris in 1952, then at Porte Dauphine in Paris in 1959. After France under President de Gaulle in 1966 had retired from the military cooperation, NATO decided to move from France. Since 1967, NATO established in Brussels (Haren) on the site of the former airport, the Bourgetlaan . In the autumn of 2010, the Dutch construction company BAM in Brussels began the construction of a new headquarters for NATO on the other side of the Avenue du Bourget. The contract has a value of about 460 million euros. The new building has to offer 250,000 sqm shelter to about 4,500 employees. It is expected that the construction will last five years. [2], [3]

The Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), the military command center. It is located in Casteau north of the Belgian Mons , Hainaut .

In 1986 the autonomous consultative Euro Group was established. Herein consult all European NATO member states and seeking to form common positions.

The NATO C3 Agency based in Brussels and The Hague .

Brief chronology
NATO enlargement in Europe The other countries of the European Union ( Finland , Ireland , Austria , Sweden , Cyprus and Malta ) are not NATO member states. Austria is not a member because the land when the entry into force of the Austrian State Treaty became independent again in 1955, stated that it has forever neutral. Finland does not allow to avoid conflict with neighboring Russia. Sweden is a neutral country and is therefore not a Member State.
 * 1949 - Creation on April 4 . Signatories: Belgium , Canada , France , Luxembourg , Netherlands, the United Kingdom , the United States of America , Denmark, Iceland , Italy , Norway and Portugal .
 * 1952 - Accession Turkey and Greece .
 * 1955 - Accession Federal Republic of Germany . Establishment of the Warsaw Pact .
 * 1961 - Start of construction of the Berlin Wall ; the Iron Curtain dividing Eastern and Western Europe.
 * 1966 - France has become a nuclear power and withdraws from the military structure, but remains politically member.
 * 1974 - Greece withdraws due to the Turkish invasion of Cyprus returned from the alliance.
 * 1980 - Greece-enters.
 * 1982 - Spain becomes the sixteenth member.
 * 1989 - Fall of the Berlin Wall .
 * 1990 - German reunification, making the territory of the former GDR part of the NATO area.
 * 1991 - Dissolution of the Warsaw Pact .
 * 1999 - Accession of Poland , the Czech Republic and Hungary .
 * 1999 - Operation / mission in Kosovo .
 * 2004 - Accession of Bulgaria , Estonia , Latvia , Lithuania , Romania , Slovakia and Slovenia .
 * 2008 - Bucharest Summit: Meeting to Croatia and Albania to member.
 * 2009 - Accession of Albania and Croatia.  France is again a full member.
 * 2011 - Operation / mission in Libya.
 * 2013 - Operation / mission in Turkey. Netherlands sends troops and Patriot missiles to defend the border against grenades.
 * 2014 - Increasing military presence by NATO in the Baltics and Poland in connection with the unrest in eastern Ukraine.

Relations with other countries

 * The Partnership for Peace is a NATO program which helps the trust between NATO and other European countries and countries of the former Soviet Union to increase. It was founded on 10 and January 11 1994 in Brussels .


 * The Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC) was established on May 29, 1997 and provides a forum for regular coordination, consultation and dialogue among all 49 participants.


 * The Mediterranean Dialogue was established in 1994 to coordinate in a similar way with Israel and with the countries of North Africa .


 * The Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (Istanbul Cooperation Initiative) was announced in 2004 as a platform for dialogue for the Middle East in the same way as the Mediterranean Dialogue Group.


 * Other states in the world have also made ​​contact with NATO to participate in some of the activities of the Partnership for Peace .