he 2026 Ankara Summit is the second North Atlantic Treaty Organisation summit hosted by Türkiye. Its objective was “to review progress made since the 2025 summit in The Hague and set out a roadmap to continue delivering on NATO’s key objectives,” the NATO website says. The NATO - or OTAN, its French and Spanish acronym - came into existence in 1949. Currently, it has 32 members from North America and Europe.

One of the key missions of the treaty is stated in Article 5: “Collective defence is NATO’s most fundamental principle. An armed attack against a NATO member shall be considered an attack against them all,”

This article was famously invoked after the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.

In an interview, Radoslaw Sikorski, Poland’s foreign minister and a former defence minister, charted NATO’s evolution since 1949. “NATO 1.0 was clearly about defence against Soviet aggression and expansionism; NATO 2.0 was a post-Cold War search for purpose. NATO 3.0 means that Europe will take more of the burden for conventional defence and the US will be more of a cavalry-over-the-hill kind of ally.”

Mark Rutte, the NATO secretary general also known as a ‘Trump whisperer’ said that “We will breathe life into the concept of NATO 3.0: a stronger Europe in a stronger NATO.” A former premier of The Netherlands, Rutta became the NATO secretary general in October 2024. With the job came the responsibility of managing President Trump.

In her keynote speech at the Ankara Dialogues, NATO’s Deputy Secretary General Radmila Shekerinska, stated, “The summit to be a landmark in the history of our Alliance.” Referring to the 2025 summit, she said, “Last year in The Hague, we took bold, historic decisions… here in Ankara, we will show how we are delivering on them.” As for NATO 3.0, Shekerinska stressed that “the concept of NATO 3.0: a stronger Europe in a stronger NATO, is not a slogan,” even though for several years, senior European officials have said that “the reality will likely be a gradually stronger Europe in a weaker NATO.”

At The Hague summit, Rutte had pushed the NATO partners to spend more on their militaries; in Ankara, the test was to convince Trump that more was being done.

President Trump has been critical of the NATO, calling it “a paper tiger.” His first administration had demanded that NATO members spend at least 4 percent of their GDP on their militaries. The target was soon raised to 5 percent. Earlier this year, in April, when Rutte was visiting the US president at the Oval Office, the president posed the dreaded question: “Why should America stay in the NATO?”

President Trump’s scepticism towards the “paper tiger” was amped up when the European countries temporarily denied American forces access to their military bases. Many initially declined his plea for help in reopening the Strait of Hormuz. “Not our war,” as The New York Times noted, is not something Trump can easily forgive and forget.

Rutte brought up the Trump Trillion at a meeting with the US president at the White House last month. “Rutte tried to put to bed any lingering concerns at a White House meeting last month, with a new pitch using a chart labelled the Trump Trillion in gold letters — showing $1.2 trillion spending by European allies and Canada since 2017,” the Associated Press reported. But President Trump was unmoved. He wanted his European partners in the war against Iran – a war launched by the US and Israel, without consulting them.

While the European partners focused on spending more on defence, by sticking to the commitment made at The Hague Summit in 2025 to “raise spending to 5 percent of GDP by 2035,” Trump said he had expected his allies to be loyal to their trans-Atlantic partners. “We don’t need their money — we don’t need anything,” Trump said. “I just want loyalty.”

Another issue has been President Trump’s desire to take over Greenland.

Speaking to the press, Rutte said, “What I saw in the room with 32 leaders sitting together, was a huge sense of unity. I’ve not seen this in recent history. And this is what I always believe the NATO is all about; Yes, you will have your forceful debates; sometimes people will argue at the top of their lungs, their points of view, and others will answer… I’m never worried about that, because in the end we are an alliance of democracies. It makes us stronger. It not only makes us stronger, in the end, we also come together. Today is evidence of that.”

On US position, Rutte said, “President Trump and the US are completely committed to the NATO”. But, he also said that there was “this big irritant that the Europeans were not paying the same as the Americans were paying. This has been a frustration on the US part since [President] Eisenhower. This American president has been able to solve this and not only get the Europeans to commit to spend the same as the US, but also to deliver on that commitment. Already 4 percent and on a 10-year trajectory to reach the 5 percent.”

News reports did echo Rutte’s optimism. According to reports, behind closed doors, Trump did reassure his NATO partners that US will stay. “We want to remain with you,” he said.

That was also reflected in the Ankara Summit Declaration: “We, the Heads of State and Government of the North Atlantic Alliance, have gathered in Ankara to reaffirm our iron-clad commitment to our collective defence under Article 5 of the Washington Treaty and to the trans-Atlantic bond. An attack on one is an attack on all. Our unity, solidarity and collective strength remain the foundation of peace, security and prosperity for the one billion citizens in our Alliance of free and democratic nations. We remain committed to our 360-degree approach to deterrence and defence.”

The writer, a communications professional, is currently the manager at the Centre for Excellence in Journalism, IBA Karachi. She can be reached on X: @mariaamkahn