Turkey announced that it supports Rutte for the position of Secretary General of NATO / It was one of the four states that had not yet announced its support for the Dutchman / The diplomatic landing of President Iohannis on Turkey, a failure

Turkey has decided to support the candidacy of the acting Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, for the position of Secretary General of NATO, the Dutch news agency ANP reported on Monday, citing NATO diplomats, according to Reuters.
Turkey was one of four member states of the Alliance that had not yet announced their support for Rutte as Jens Stoltenberg’s successor.

Members such as the USA, Great Britain, France and Germany have already announced that they support Rutte, Reuters mentions.

According to AFP, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met on Friday with Mark Rutte, who arrived in Istanbul to obtain Turkey’s support for his candidacy.

On the occasion, Erdogan said he hoped the next NATO secretary general would prioritize Turkey’s terrorism concerns.

“I told him that, in accordance with the spirit of the Alliance, no terrorist organization, especially the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) and its associates, should be tolerated”, declared the Turkish head of state in front of journalists, in the presence of Rutte.

Erdogan also said that it is “imperative that the new secretary general make intensive efforts to remove sanctions, restrictions and obstacles in the field of defense industry among allies”.

Last week, President Klaus Iohannis had telephone conversations with the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyp Erdogan, and with the Vice President of Turkey. The topic of the discussions was support for the NATO presidency.

In February, President Iohannis launched his candidacy for the post of NATO Secretary General, competing with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. So far, Iohannis has not received the support of any NATO member state, but he has declared that he maintains his candidacy and that he is conducting negotiations.

Public information and diplomatic sources show a rather pessimistic picture for the head of state: irritation in many member states, but also lack of collaboration with other state institutions.

In parallel, however, Klaus Iohannis will receive an award from a prestigious US think-tank precisely for his transatlantic policy. At this moment it is not clear if Iohannis has an agreement with the Biden Administration or a dialogue with the Trump team, or if his candidacy is just a political game on his own.

Klaus Iohannis is seen by major international publications as an outsider in the race for the headship of NATO, Mark Rutte being considered the favorite due to the support announced by the majority of member states, including the “heavyweights” USA, Great Britain, Canada, France and Germany. The only countries that have not announced their support for the Dutchman until today were Turkey, Hungary and Slovakia. AFP even wrote on Saturday that Rutte is the favorite, in a news related to the meeting in Ankara between Turkish President Erdogan and the Dutch Prime Minister.