Speech by Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel at the reception held on 14 April 2011 during the Spring Meeting of NATO Ministers of Foreign Affairs
Thu,
14.04.2011
Ladies and gentlemen, this reception today is taking place in , in the city where the Wall fell more than 21 years ago. The Wall was an inhumane division through this city. It divided families. It divided a country. As the Iron Curtain, it split a whole continent in two. Only a few metres from where we are stands the Brandenburg Gate. The Brandenburg Gate and the Berlin Wall – during the Cold War, they were symbols of a divided and a divided . Today, the Brandenburg Gate symbolizes unity and freedom on our continent. The reception therefore cannot come to a close without a reminder of the essential contribution that NATO’s steadfast conduct made to bringing down the Wall and enabling freedom to triumph.
More than 20 years have passed since experienced those historic changes. Today, we are again witnessing a turning point in history, this time in the Arab world. Historically speaking, we cannot compare the development of events in the two situations one to one. But one thing that was true then in Europe remains just as true today, from to , from to : what drives people is our yearning for freedom, for human dignity, for self-determination. The power of liberty is stronger than any repressive force. Twenty-one years ago, I learned that first-hand.
In the two decades and more since the Cold War ended, our world has come a long way – as has, in particular measure, our . For all the political developments which have occurred, however, one thing has not changed. NATO is the strongest anchor of our security and the framework within which our close transatlantic community of values flourishes, and it will remain so in the 21st century. It is out of conviction that we share joint responsibility around the world – look at the Balkans; look at .
