President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held bilateral meetings with the leaders of the United States, Germany, France, Canada, the United Kingdom, Italy, Sweden, Spain, the Netherlands, Greece, Albania, and the European Union (EU) within the scope of 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 submit Sweden’s NATO Accession Protocol to the approval of the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye while Sweden will actively support efforts to reinvigorate Türkiye’s EU accession process.
According to the statement, Sweden has reiterated that it will not support 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.
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 participated in the family photo, after which he attended the North Atlantic Council meeting.
Proceeding with his bilateral talks, President Erdoğan initially met with President Emmanuel Macron of France at the LITEXPO Exhibition and Fair Centre.
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, cooperation in the field of counter-terrorism, 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 yesterday.
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 process for me. And now, you are also preparing for the elections. I wish you success during the preparations."
According to a statement by our Presidency’s Directorate of Communications, “During the meeting, political, economic and commercial relations between Türkiye and the U.S., cooperation opportunities in security and regional issues were discussed.”
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and First Lady Emine Erdoğan attended the dinner President Gitanas Nausėda of Lithuania hosted at the Presidential Palace in Vilnius in honor of NATO leaders and their spouses.
Second day of the summit also witnessed an intense traffic of talks
President Erdoğan resumed his meetings on the second day of the NATO Summit at LITEXPO Exhibition and Congress Centre.
President Erdoğan met with Prime Minister Pedro Sanchéz of Spain, Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis of Greece, Prime Minister Edi Rama of Albania, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.
Attending the NATO-Ukraine Council Meeting of Heads of State and Government, President Erdoğan held a conversation with the US President Biden and NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg at the hall for a while.
During the meetings, President Erdoğan was accompanied by 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.