His schedule did not include a one-on-one meeting with the US president, but Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan held bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the NATO Summit in Washington with six European leaders, including Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, newly elected British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. , French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

For Ankara, the issue of combating terrorism is focused on the eradication of the separatist Kurdish organization PKK as well as affiliated Kurdish organizations in Syria and Europe and is of primary importance for its next strategic planning.

Thus speaking to the journalists who accompanied him on the plane on his return from Washington, Erdogan expressed his discomfort with the fact that countries such as Germany, France and Britain not only do not fight terrorism but also to some extent support it .

Another point the Turkish president insisted on was the lack of solidarity on the part of Turkey’s NATO allies when they block shipments of arms, ammunition and vital defense industry components to Turkey even though doing so is inconsistent with NATO solidarity.

Erdogan: “I reminded the chancellor that…”

During the meeting he had with the German chancellor, Erdoğan raised the issue of the turbines that were intended for the Akkuyu nuclear power plant but are still at customs.

However, the Turkish president also returned to the issue of Eurofighter fighters. “I reminded the German chancellor” he said “that we must overcome the problems that led to our request for the purchase of the Eurofighter Typhoon not being implemented». The issue of the Eurofighter purchase resurfaced when Erdogan confirmed in Washington that Turkey had asked to reduce the number of 40 F-16 fighters it had agreed to buy from the US due to high costs.

For the Turkish president, there are two important foreign policy issues: The implementation of the plan to normalize Turkey-Syria relations. As he told Turkish journalists, he instructed Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan to proceed with all the necessary procedures.

“We want peace in Syria and we expect support from those who are on the side of peace. They should support this historic callhe said, implying also the Americans, who cooperate with the Syrian branch of the PKK in the fight against the Islamic State.

Tayyip Erdoğan’s second goal is to reopen the Black Sea grain transit corridor. A plan that, according to Erdogan, could satisfy the demands of both Russia and Ukraine, brokered by Ankara.