U.S President Joe Biden said “I welcome the statement issued by Turkey, Sweden and the NATO Secretary General,” he said in a statement. “I stand ready to work with President Erdogan and Turkey on enhancing defense and deterrence in the Euro-Atlantic area.” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday at the NATO Summit in Lithuania, as reported by the Associated Press:
Biden meets with Erdogan at NATO Summit
Newslooks- (AP)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday but remained mum on the deal to advance Sweden’s membership in NATO.
Although Biden made a reference to “the agreement you reached yesterday,” Erdogan said nothing about it. Turkey has been the primary obstacle to Sweden joining the alliance, but NATO announced on Monday night that Erdogan agreed to forward the issue to his country’s parliament.
It was a conspicuous omission from Erdogan, who has not commented on the issue publicly during the summit.
However, Erdogan appeared eager to develop his relationship with Biden. He said previous meetings were “mere warm ups, but now we are initiating a new process.”
Mentioning next year’s presidential election, Erdogan told Biden that he wanted “to take this opportunity to wish you the best of luck.”
Biden responded, “I look forward to meeting with you the next five years.”
