NATO chief due in Türkiye for his first trip after taking office

ANKARA

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte will be in Türkiye on Nov. 25 to hold talks with senior Turkish officials, including President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in his first official trip to Ankara after taking office on Oct. 1.

A statement issued by NATO over the weekend has informed that Rutte will meet Erdoğan as well as Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Defense Minister Yaşar Güler. The new chief of the alliance will lay a wreath at Anıtkabir, the mausoleum of modern Türkiye founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

He will also engage representatives from the Turkish defense industry and visit the facilities of the Turkish Airspace Industries (TUSAŞ), which was the subject of a terrorist attack by PKK in late October.

The talks are expected on Türkiye’s expectations from NATO allies especially in the context of the fight against terrorism. Ankara asks for more support and solidarity against terrorism, which has been defined as one of two top threats against the alliance.

Rutte and the Turkish officials will also evaluate the efforts to increase partnership between NATO and the European Union. Türkiye, as a non-EU NATO ally, says the EU should be more open to all NATO countries when it comes to discussing the security of the continent.

The leaders will review the latest developments in the Russian occupation of Ukraine and the ongoing Israeli massacres in Gaza. They will also exchange views about the impacts of the re-election of Donald Trump as the U.S. President to the global conflicts.

After Ankara, Rutte will go to Athens to meet Greek leaders, NATO said.

Fidan to attend ‘Alliance of Civilization’ meeting

In the meantime, the Foreign Ministry announced that Fidan will attend the 10th Global Forum of the U.N. Alliance of Civilization, which has been co-chaired by Türkiye and Spain since 2005.

The forum will be held in Portugal’s Cascais between Nov. 25 and 27, the diplomatic sources said. The latest forum meeting happened in Morocco in 2022.

Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, High Representative of the Alliance of Civilizations Miguel Angel Moratinos and Spain's King Felipe VI will be among the participants of the forum.

In his address to the forum, Fidan is expected to highlight the fact that polarization, discrimination and extremism are on the rise 20 years after the establishment of the Alliance of Civilizations.

He will also emphasize the importance of finding a lasting and just solution to the problems in the Middle East for regional and global peace.

The participants are expected to adopt the “Cascais Declaration” following the two-day forum.