President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held bilateral meetings with the leaders of the United States, Germany, France, Canada, the United Kingdom, Italy, Sweden, and the European Union (EU) during the NATO Heads of State and Government Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.
President Erdoğan, who conducted intense diplomacy traffic at the NATO Leaders' Summit, held a trilateral meeting with Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson of Sweden and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on July 10 in Vilnius, where he attended the summit.
In a written statement released after the meeting, it was announced that Türkiye will transmit the NATO Accession Protocol for Sweden to the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye while Sweden will actively support efforts to reinvigorate Türkiye’s EU accession process.
Sweden reiterates in the statement that it will not provide support to the YPG, PYD, or FETO, while both Sweden and Türkiye have agreed that counter-terrorism cooperation is a long-term effort that will continue beyond Sweden’s accession to NATO.
The statement indicates that Sweden will actively support efforts to reinvigorate Türkiye’s EU accession process, including modernisation of the EU-Türkiye Customs Union and visa liberalisation, while Türkiye will transmit the NATO Accession Protocol for Sweden to the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye and work closely with the Assembly to ensure ratification.
Following the trilateral meeting, President Erdoğan received President Charles Michel of the European Council.
Bilateral meetings
On the first day of the NATO Leaders' Summit, President Erdoğan took part in the family photo shoot and headed to the North Atlantic Council meeting.
Following the session, President Erdoğan had bilateral meetings, beginning with President Emmanuel Macron of France at the LITEXPO Exhibition and Fair Centre.
After his meeting with Macron, President Erdoğan also held talks with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany, and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy.
The talks covered bilateral relations, counter-terrorism cooperation, Türkiye's EU accession process, and Sweden's NATO membership process.
Meeting with Biden
President Erdoğan met with President Joe Biden of the United States following his meeting with Prime Minister Meloni of Italy.
In brief remarks prior to the meeting, President Erdoğan thanked President Biden for his call to congratulate him on his re-election and said: “I am of the opinion that it is now time to have negotiations at the presidential level within the context of the strategic mechanism. I see this meeting, occurring on the margins of NATO, as the first step. Our previous meetings were like warm-up sessions, and now we are starting a new process. This new process is a five-year-long one for me. And now, you are also preparing for the elections. I wish you success during the preparations."
Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan, Minister of National Defence Yaşar Güler, Director of National Intelligence Organisation İbrahim Kalın, Presidency's Director of Communications Fahrettin Altun, President of Defence Industries Haluk Görgün, and Chief Advisor to the President Ambassador Akif Çağatay Kılıç also attended the meetings.