A private meeting between the presidents of Turkey and the United States has been scheduled for the upcoming NATO summit in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania.
According to a statement from the Turkish Communications Directorate, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke by phone with US President Joe Biden on Sunday. The two men discussed a variety of topics, including Sweden’s application to join NATO.
Erdogan reminded Biden that Stockholm made “correct steps” by passing recent anti-terror laws, in reference to Sweden’s ongoing ambitions to join NATO, which have run afoul of Ankara because of security- and terrorism-related worries.
However, the president said, they were overturned by blatant protests by PKK terror group supporters.
While praising his US colleague for supporting Ankara’s wish to buy the fighter aircraft from Washington, he added that it would be erroneous to link Sweden’s application to join NATO with the sale of F-16 jets to Turkey.
Sweden took correct steps by passing anti-terror amendments, but they were nullified by flagrant demonstrations by sympathisers of PKK terror group, Erdogan tells Biden pic.twitter.com/IBLS7F8nQg
— TRT World (@trtworld) July 9, 2023
Türkiye’s potential EU membership
During the chat, the two presidents also discussed Ukraine’s posture with regard to NATO and Turkey’s application to join the European Union.
Erdogan emphasized that Turkey had joined the EU with integrity and morality and declared that Ankara wants to relaunch the process for full membership in the organization.
He continued by saying that during the Vilnius summit, Turkey wants the leading EU nations and the leadership of the organization to send a loud and unambiguous message supporting the country’s membership.
