Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte in Istanbul.

Mark Rutte’s visit to Turkey comes at a time when he is trying to promote his candidacy for the post of NATO Secretary General.

In a joint press conference with Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Dutch prime minister said that NATO’s southern wing needs Turkey and its leadership. “Turkey plays a decisive role. In this way, it is making efforts to resolve the situation in Gaza. He is also making efforts to deal with this terrible war in Ukraine. In this light, it plays an important role. Turkey is a geopolitical factor,” Rutte said.

He also said that “Turkey is a very important ally in NATO. After the US, Turkey represents the second largest military power in NATO. Turkey is a country located in a difficult region, in a geography with difficult neighbors. Unfortunately, terrorism is on their agenda.” The fight against terrorism was also discussed during the meeting, the Dutch prime minister said.

“NATO’s southern wing needs Turkey in terms of the stability of the entire region and the overall transatlantic relationship,” he added.

For his part, the Turkish president asked for the update of Turkey’s Customs Union with the EU as soon as possible and expressed Ankara’s expectations from the Netherlands regarding its relations with the European Union based on a fair and strategic perspective.

He also referred extensively to Turkey’s economic relations with the Netherlands: “The Netherlands is the largest foreign investor in Turkey. Our entrepreneurs employ around 80 thousand people in the Netherlands with investments of 6 billion euros. Our bilateral trade reached $13 billion last year. Our goal is to increase this amount in the first phase to 15 billion dollars and then to 20 billion dollars.”

The Turkish president emphasized the developments surrounding the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. “It is very important to stop the ongoing massacres in Gaza and ensure a permanent cease-fire,” Tayyip Erdogan said, adding: “I have emphasized our expectations to the Israeli government to take the necessary measures for a cease-fire.”

The fight against terrorism was also one of the top priorities of the consultations, he said. “The heavy price that Turkey has paid in the fight against separatist terrorism is obvious. We have sacrificed thousands of our citizens, including children, women, civilians and security forces, to PKK attacks. I stated that no terrorist organization, especially the PKK and its offshoots, should be tolerated under the principles of the Alliance.” Turkey has often expressed its discomfort with the presence of members of the PKK, but also of the left-wing armed group DHKP-C.