Mark Rutte will visit Türkiye on Monday as a NATO Secretary-General on his first trip to the country. He is scheduled to talk with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and other officials under the shadow of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Rutte and Erdoğan’s talks will focus on developments in the conflict, a Turkish official told Reuters on Sunday.
Russia struck Ukraine with a new hypersonic medium-range ballistic missile on Thursday in response to Kyiv’s use of U.S. and British missiles against Russia, marking an escalation in the war that began in February 2022.
NATO member Türkiye says it supports Ukraine’s territorial integrity and has provided Kyiv with military support.
But the country, a Black Sea neighbor of both Russia and Ukraine, also opposes Western sanctions against Moscow, with which it shares important defense, energy, and tourism ties. On Wednesday, Erdoğan opposed a U.S. decision to allow Ukraine to use long-range missiles to attack inside Russia, saying it would further inflame the conflict, according to an interview with a group of journalists.
Moscow says that by giving the green light for Ukraine to fire Western missiles deep inside Russia, the U.S. and its allies are entering into direct conflict with Russia. On Tuesday, Putin approved policy changes that lowered the threshold for Russia to use nuclear weapons in response to an attack with conventional weapons. During their talks on Monday, Erdogan and Rutte will also discuss the removal of defense procurement obstacles between NATO allies and the military alliance’s joint fight against terrorism, the Turkish official said.
Apart from Erdoğan, Rutte will hold talks with Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Defense Minister Yaşar Güler. Rutte’s itinerary also includes engagements with representatives of Türkiye’s defense industry and a visit to the Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) facilities where five people were killed in a terror attack by PKK in October.