Delivering remarks following the Presidential Cabinet Meeting, President Erdoğan drew attention to Türkiye’s conditional approval to Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership, and said: “Let me reiterate that we will freeze the process if they do not take the necessary steps to fulfill our conditions.”
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan delivered remarks at a press conference following the Presidential Cabinet Meeting at the Presidential Complex.
“NATO’S EXPANSION POLICIES SHOULD BE MAINTAINED IN LINE WITH TÜRKİYE’S SENSITIVITIES”
Touching upon his recent visit to Spain for the NATO Leaders Summit, President Erdoğan said Türkiye’s approaches towards regional and global crises were voiced at the highest level at the Summit which he underlined was held at an important period due to the Ukraine-Russia war, and added: “We displayed a quite open and clear stance that NATO’s expansion policies should be maintained in line with our country’s sensitivities. Once the conditions we had brought to the table for the start of Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership process were agreed, we shared our conditional approval with member countries.”
“Let me reiterate that we will freeze the process if they do not take the necessary steps to fulfill our conditions,” President Erdoğan underscored, and noted: “Sweden, in particular, has not been displaying a positive image on this issue. Our stance as Türkiye is crystal clear on this issue, the rest is up to them.”
PHONE CALLS WITH VARIOUS HEADS OF STATE AND GOVERNMENT
Drawing attention to the phone calls he held with various heads of state and government, President Erdoğan went on to say: “During our separate phone calls with President Herzog of Israel and President Abbas of Palestine we shared with them our views on regional peace and tranquility. Our telephone diplomacy continued on the Eid days as well. Some of the leaders with whom we spoke by phone are Prime Minister Lapid of Israel, President Putin of Russia, President Zelensky of Ukraine, Qatar Emir Sheikh Tamim, Prime Minister Pashinyan of Armenia and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia. Also, we spoke by phone with the King of Saudi Arabia, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques.
“We held many phone calls with the heads of state and government of friendly and brotherly countries from the Turkic republics and Africa to the Middle East and the Balkans.”
President Erdoğan further noted that they would presently depart for Tehran to attend the Türkiye-Russia-Iran Trilateral Summit and the 7th Meeting of the Türkiye-Iran High Level Cooperation Council.