The far-right French leader targeted Turkey, and the NATO Secretary General responded with a bombshell reply.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte answered questions from European parliamentarians during a session of the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee and the Security and Defense Subcommittee.

FAR-RIGHT FRENCH TARGETS TURKEY

Jordan Bardella, the leader of the far-right National Rally (RN) party in France, claimed that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan sees NATO as an instrument and pursues policies to increase Turkey's own influence, asking how NATO would approach Turkey.

"TURKEY IS ALSO DEFENDING ITS OWN INTERESTS"

In response to Bardella's question, who accused Turkey of playing an active role in the migration crisis and using Syrian refugees, Rutte said, "In 2016, together with the Netherlands, which held the presidency of the European Council, Turkey and Germany managed to reach an agreement on the Syrian refugee crisis. This made me very happy. Because this way, we managed to reduce the number of Syrian refugees coming to Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands," he said. Rutte added, "You will remember Viktor Orban said, 'No one wants to come to Hungary, everyone wants to go to Germany.' This was true. The number of refugees could have reached 1 million in 2016, but that did not happen due to the agreement made with Turkey. I have always felt that Turkey is a valuable ally of NATO and plays its own role. Turkey is also defending its own interests, just like others do here, within the European Union, including NATO. This is a natural thing. Turkey is a very valuable member of NATO," he said.

"EUROPEAN NATO IS A DREAM"

In response to a question from a parliamentarian about what he thinks regarding Europe having a more autonomous defense, Rutte said, "It would be great to create something like a European NATO, but then you would have to forget the 2% target (to be separated from gross domestic product for defense spending). Instead, you would need to allocate a budget of 8%, 9%, or 10%. You would also have to build your own nuclear capabilities, and if you want to establish a European NATO without the US, you should not forget that this will take 15-20 years. Currently, more than 60% of the total money spent on NATO territory is covered by the US. This means that all the remaining 31 countries, including Canada, spend less than 40%. Therefore, the idea that you could create a European NATO in the next 10 or 15 years is a dream," he said.

"THE FUTURE OF EUROPEAN AND GLOBAL SECURITY DEPENDS ON THE OUTCOME OF THE WAR IN UKRAINE"

Rutte stated, "The future of European and global security depends on the outcome of the war in Ukraine. We all desire an end to this war. But above all, we want peace to be lasting. I do not know how or when the war will end, but I know that if Putin achieves what he wants in Ukraine, peace will not be lasting. Because in that case, he will continue to advance," he said.

"I AM DEEPLY CONCERNED ABOUT THE SECURITY SITUATION IN EUROPE"

Rutte said, "I have said it before, and I will say it again, I am deeply concerned about the security situation in Europe. We are not at war, but we are not at peace either. The good news is that we know what we need to do to protect our people and our way of life both now and in the long term. All we need to do is invest more in defense and produce more capacity. We cannot wait for this. We need to increase the resilience of our societies and critical infrastructure. We also need to maintain and increase our support for Ukraine to change the course of the war and deter potential Russian aggression in the future," he stated.