Rasmussen chooses Turkey envoy as NATO chief of staff

PanARMENIAN.Net - The North Atlantic Treaty Organization's next secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, has chosen Denmark's ambassador to Turkey, Jesper Vahr, as his chief of staff, he announced Thursday in Copenhagen.

But Turkey had received "guarantees" from U.S. President Barack Obama to convince Turkey to drop its veto Rasmussen's candidacy for NATO chief that one of Rasmussen's deputies would be a Turk, Turkish media reported.



Turkey had opposed Rasmussen's bid for the top NATO post, saying Rasmussens failure over cartoon crisis in 2006 which angered Muslim world, sparking huge protest can exacerbate hostility towards the West in Muslim countries and cast doubts over his ability to lead the alliance.



Turkey also said that the Rasmussen's unwillingness to suspend broadcasts from a Denmark-based Roj TV station linked to the PKK, Turkish media reported.



Turkey dropped its objections after U.S. President Barack Obama agreed to serve as a guarantor on several issues, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. One of these issues is that Turkish commanders would be present at the alliance's command.



"I chose Jesper Vahr because he has a lot of experience, he has among other things worked closely with current (NATO) Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer on the reforms at Alliance headquarters," Rasmussen said in a statement.



In 2005-2006, the Danish diplomat was the secretary general's assistant in a working group on reforms undertaken by the alliance.



Rasmussen said he intended to "continue the work" on reforms, saying he was "convinced that Jesper Vahr would encourage strong cooperation between member states and headquarters staff in order to ensure NATO's continued renewal and development".



Vahr will also take up his new position on August 1.