The meeting between Biden and Erdogan; NATO, Ukraine and Syria are the focus of the talks
The White House announced in a statement on Wednesday local time: US President Joe Biden met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today on the sidelines of the NATO summit.
It is stated in this statement: Biden welcomed Turkey’s tripartite agreement with Finland and Sweden, which paved the way for NATO to invite these two countries.
The White House statement said: The leaders of the two countries discussed the continued support of Ukraine in its defense against Russian aggression, as well as the importance of removing obstacles created by Russia for the export of Ukrainian grain.
The White House continued: They also discussed the importance of maintaining stability in the Aegean Sea and Syria.
According to this statement, Biden emphasized the desire to maintain constructive bilateral relations, and the presidents of the two countries agreed on the importance of continuing close relations between the US and Turkish governments.
Biden and Erdogan spoke on the phone yesterday, and the White House announced in a statement that Biden noted that he was looking forward to meeting with Erdogan at the NATO summit in Madrid.
The President of Turkey had a telephone conversation with the Secretary General of NATO regarding the joining of two countries, Sweden and Finland, to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which submitted their request last month.
After that, the foreign ministers of Turkey, Sweden and Finland signed a memorandum in Madrid, Spain, based on which Turkey agrees to the membership of Finland and Sweden in the NATO defense alliance.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced that Turkey has withdrawn its opposition to Sweden and Finland joining NATO.
Stoltenberg said after the conclusion of these negotiations: “We have now reached an agreement that paves the way for Finland and Sweden to join NATO.”
Finnish President Sauli Niinisto confirmed that the leaders of the three countries had signed a joint agreement after talks on Tuesday.
Turkey also announced that it had “achieved what it wanted”, including “full cooperation in the fight against rebel groups”. The American president also welcomed the agreement of Finland, Sweden and Turkey and considered it an important step.