President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has a busy schedule at the NATO summit in Vilnius, where he is in the spotlight at a critical time in the history of the military alliance. Praised for Turkey’s apparent support for Sweden’s NATO membership, Erdoğan meanwhile held talks with the heads of state of the alliance. On the first day of the summit, the president met French President Emmanuel Macron before meeting British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. None of the leaders commented on their meetings.
Erdoğan is expected to continue his bilateral talks throughout the day and is expected to meet later in the evening with US President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. On Wednesday, he is due to meet Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Also on Tuesday, Erdoğan will speak at the first session of the summit. On Wednesday, he will participate in the second session, the meeting of the NATO-Ukraine committee and the meeting of heads of state, where he will deliver separate speeches. At the end of the summit, Erdoğan will hold a press conference there.
