NATO Divisions Could Prevent Article 5 Activation Over Iran–Turkey Missile Incident
Internal NATO disagreements may prevent the alliance from invoking Article 5 after a missile incident in Turkey linked to Iran, according to Russian analyst Vladimir Avatkov.
Disagreements within NATO could prevent the alliance from invoking Article 5 of the Washington Treaty amid tensions surrounding Iran, according to Vladimir Avatkov, a professor at the Department of International Relations at the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Earlier, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said in an interview with Reuters that the alliance would not activate Article 5 following a missile incident on Turkish territory.
Avatkov argued that NATO members currently lack a unified position when it comes to supporting Ankara. In his view, it is far from certain that the alliance would stand firmly behind Turkey in such a situation. He questioned whether other members would actually come to Ankara’s defense, pointing to long-standing tensions within the bloc and suggesting that countries such as Greece or France would be unlikely to back Turkey militarily. According to the professor, these internal divisions make the activation of the collective defense clause highly improbable.
At the same time, Avatkov suggested that the mechanism could theoretically be used for a different purpose — to draw Turkey deeper into the confrontation and push it toward offensive actions against Iran by appealing to nationalist sentiment inside the country.
Earlier, the Turkish presidential administration reported that a ballistic missile launched from Iranian territory had been intercepted and neutralized by NATO air and missile defense forces. The interception took place over the Shahinbey district of the city of Gaziantep. Official information indicated that the incident caused no casualties or injuries. It marked the second such episode in Turkish airspace since the escalation of the crisis around Iran.
The situation in the Middle East intensified on February 28, when the United States and Israel began striking targets inside Iran, including facilities in Tehran. Reports indicated that the attacks caused destruction and civilian casualties. Tehran responded with strikes on Israeli territory as well as on American military facilities across the Middle East.