NATO should follow Turkey’s advice and make Georgia a member – the article with such title published in the TRT WORLD.

The author of the article is Luke Coffey, the Director of the Foreign Policy Center at The Heritage Foundation.

“Over the years, successive Georgian governments have pursued an agenda of liberalising the economy, cutting bureaucracy, fighting corruption, and embracing democracy.
One of the biggest concerns NATO members have about inviting Georgia into the Alliance is the ongoing Russian occupation of 20 percent of the country. Russia uses its continued occupation of the Tskhinvali region (South Ossetia) and Abkhazia as the best way to keep Georgia out of NATO and other international organizations. This is a de-facto veto held by Moscow – and is unacceptable.
The only question remaining is if leaders on both sides of the Atlantic have the political will and the creativity required to make NATO membership possible for Georgia.
Georgia also represents the idea in Europe that each country has the sovereign ability to determine its own path, to decide with whom it has relations, and how and by whom it is governed.
Georgia has transformed its military and has been steadfast in its support of NATO, as well as non-NATO overseas security operations. Georgia has contributed thousands of troops to Iraq and Afghanistan, and hundreds of peacekeepers to the Balkans and Africa.
It is time for the Alliance to make progress on this issue of membership, follow the advice of Foreign Minister Cavusoglu, and get Georgia into NATO”, - wrote Coffey.