Erdogan and Stoltenberg met :
NATO Secretary General, who came to Turkey for the swearing-in ceremony, was received by the President in Dolmabahce. The main agenda of the meeting is Sweden's accession to the alliance.
There was a historical turning point with Russia's attack on Ukraine, Scandinavian countries Sweden and Finland, which had a neutral position for decades, applied for NATO membership.
Ankara wanted Helsinki and Stockholm to take steps to fight terrorism, a memorandum of understanding was signed between Turkey, Sweden, and Finland at the NATO Summit in June 2022.
In Sweden, which supports terrorist organizations, two separate provocations took place in January of this year, supporters of terrorism hung a model of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in front of the Stockholm Municipality. Far-right party leader Rasmus Paludan burned the Quran in front of the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm.
Ankara, which froze the ongoing talks with Sweden, approved Finland's NATO membership at the end of March, and the Scandinavian country joined the world's largest military alliance.
The Stockholm administration passed a new anti-terrorism law, which came into effect at the beginning of June.
NATO expects Sweden to join the alliance at the summit to be held in Lithuania's capital Vilnius next month, and all eyes are on Turkey. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg came to Ankara for President Erdogan's swearing-in ceremony.
SUMMIT IN DOLMABAHCE :
Today, Erdogan and Stoltenberg met in Istanbul. The Dolmabahce Office's reception, which was closed to the press, lasted about an hour.
NEW MINISTERS HAVE ALSO ATTENDED :
President Erdogan and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg were accompanied by Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Minister of National Defense Yasar Guler, and Ibrahim Kalın.
STATEMENT AFTER THE MEETING :
Speaking after the meeting at the Dolmabahce Office, Stoltenberg said, "Turkey is an important country for NATO and its contributions to NATO are very great. Turkey sends peacekeeping forces to Kosovo to reduce tensions. Turkey is also assisting NATO's forces in Iraq and training NATO's forces in Hungary gives. He gave strong support to Ukraine.
I visited Turkey a few months ago. Since then, NATO has provided Turkey with great support. Like providing temporary housing. During the meeting with President Erdogan, I congratulated him on his re-election. President Erdogan and I talked about the issues that will be on our new agenda. We talked about NATO's strong support for Ukraine."
Stoltenberg continued his words as follows:
Türkiye is an important country for NATO and its contributions to NATO are enormous. Including peacekeeping armies, they work where tensions are high. I am grateful that Turkey sent a team to Kosovo. Additionally, Türkiye aids NATO's Iraqi forces. He additionally prepares NATO's powers in Hungary. He gave solid help to Ukraine.
We also talked about Sweden's NATO membership. Turkey has legitimate security concerns. No other alliance members were attacked. Sweden has taken concrete steps. There are also steps to amend the Isven constitution and to take steps against terrorism. The new terror law has come into force, so Sweden has fulfilled its responsibilities.
It should also be understood that there were demonstrations in Sweden against NATO and Turkey. Freedom of demonstration is one of the greatest values in our democratic society. However, it should be remembered that it is necessary to know why the demonstrations took place. The coordinators are attempting to keep Sweden from joining NATO.
We must not let them succeed. At the last summit, Turkiye, Sweden, and Finland signed the tripartite agreement. Permanent mechanisms were also included for this. President Erdogan and I agreed that permanent joint mechanisms will meet again today, on 12 June next week. This will make Sweden safer.
We also talked about Sweden's NATO membership. Turkey has legitimate security concerns. No other alliance members were attacked. Sweden has taken concrete steps. There are also steps to change the Swedish constitution, against terrorism. The new terror law has come into force, so Sweden has fulfilled its responsibilities.
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