NATO chief calls Türkiye ‘staunch and capable ally’

ISTANBUL

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Tuesday described Türkiye as a ‘staunch and capable ally,’ following his meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Turkish capital of Ankara.

“We also discussed Ukraine, where there is a real window of opportunity for progress towards peace,” Rutte said in a statement on X ahead of the informal NATO Foreign Ministers' Meeting on May 14-15 in Antalya, a Turkish resort city in the southern Mediterranean.

He said it is excellent to meet Erdogan as they prepare for the NATO Summit next month “to keep the Alliance strong.”

During the meeting, Erdogan also told the NATO chief that Ankara values the alliance, and as confirmation of this, Türkiye will take command of the NATO Kosovo Force again, according to Türkiye's Communications Directorate.