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Thursday, March 28, 2024

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    Turkish president and NATO chief have meetings in Istanbul.

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    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in Istanbul on Sunday.

    The Turkish presidency provided no additional details regarding the closed-door meeting at the Dolmabahce Palace.

    Stoltenberg attended Erdogan’s inauguration ceremony on Saturday, where he took the oath of office as Turkey’s president.

    Stoltenberg was one of the first to congratulate Erdogan on his reelection victory on May 28.

    “Excellent call with President @RTErdogan.” I congratulated him on his victory. We discussed crucial concerns for the upcoming #NATOSummit in Vilnius, sustained support for #Ukraine, strengthening our deterrence and defence, and finishing Sweden’s NATO admission,” he wrote late May on Twitter.

    Finland and Sweden applied to join NATO shortly after Russia declared war on Ukraine in February 2022.

    Although Turkey approved Finland’s NATO membership, it is waiting on Sweden to follow through on a trilateral pact negotiated in Madrid in June to resolve Ankara’s security concerns.

    Sweden approved an anti-terrorism measure in November, anticipating that Ankara would support Stockholm’s NATO membership bid. The new law, which goes into effect on June 1, empowers police to prosecute individuals who support terrorist organisations.

    Several foreign ministers are hoping that Turkey will support Sweden’s petition ahead of a NATO summit in Lithuania’s capital Vilnius on July 11-12.

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