Turkey backs Mark Rutte for NATO leadership

UPDATE 16:30. Turkey supports Mark Rutte to succeed Jens Stoltenberg in the post of NATO Secretary General, the spokesperson of the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

“We announced it today in Brussels,” said the spokesman for Turkish diplomacy, three days after a meeting in Istanbul between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Mark Rutte. Erdogan did not reveal Turkey’s option at the time, but said that his decision would be based on “reason” and wished Rutte, smiling, success in his “new journey”.

Mark Rutte, aged 57, is considered the big favorite to take over the post of NATO Secretary General.

Several countries, including France, the US, the United Kingdom and Germany, have already expressed their support for the prime minister of the Netherlands government. Rutte is acting as the interim head of the Dutch government while negotiations for a new government take place and has announced that he is retiring from domestic politics.

However, the Hungarian government led by Viktor Orban has announced that it does not support Mark Rutte for the post of NATO Secretary General, stating that it cannot support a person “who wanted to bring Hungary to its knees”, a reference to a statement by Rutte related to the dispute between the EU and Hungary due to a new Hungarian law banning references to homosexuality in schools.

With this law, Hungary “has nothing left to look for in the European Union”, and this country must be “brought to its knees”, declared Mark Rutte in June 2021 at a European summit. However, some diplomats say that Orban could change his position if Rutte pays him a visit, just as he did to Erdogan.

The decision regarding the appointment of a new Secretary General of NATO is taken by consensus by the 32 member states and is expected until the Alliance summit, which will take place in July in Washington. The current Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will end his mandate in October 2024, after it was already extended four times in the context of the war in Ukraine.

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Original news:

Turkey has decided to support the candidacy of Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte for the post of NATO Secretary General, the Dutch news agency ANP reported on Monday, citing NATO diplomats.

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 Agerpres.

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 – no) and its associates, should be tolerated,” the Turkish head of state told journalists in the presence of Rutte .

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

President Klaus Iohannis announced that he has no intention of giving up his candidacy for the headship of NATO, saying that “very intense” discussions are taking place, which “are not made public.

Publisher: BP

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