Erdogan holds talks with Italy, Germany, Greece's leaders at NATO summit

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has discussed a range of issues including bilateral ties and Israel's war on Gaza with NATO leaders, including Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, on the sidelines of NATO summit in Washinton DC.

Erdogan held three separate closed-door meeting with the leaders on the sidelines on Wednesday, discussing bilateral relations, regional as well as global issues, according to Türkiye's Communications Directorate.

During the meeting with Meloni, Erdogan said that relations between Türkiye and Italy will continue to develop with the steps to be taken and that the countries will continue to work for this.

He added that Ankara is doing its best to end the tensions in the surrounding region through peace and that all countries should make efforts for this.

During the meeting with Mitsotakis, the president underlined that Türkiye continues its efforts to develop the "spirit of solidarity" with Greece based on the principle of good neighbourliness.

"Efforts should be increased to end conflicts in Ukraine and Palestine," Erdogan told Mitsotakis.

The Turkish leader told Scholz that pressure should be put on Israel to end its attacks on Gaza and not to miss the opportunity of a ceasefire.

The president told Scholz that support is expected from Germany to revitalise Türkiye's European Union membership process.

Summit declaration

The summit, which addresses the challenges facing the alliance and seeks to further strengthen NATO's deterrence and defence, also includes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and heads of delegation of NATO's partners in the Asia-Pacific region.

Türkiye joined the alliance in 1952 and also boasts of having the second-largest army among member states after the United States.

Leaders of NATO countries on Wednesday stressed a membership pledge for Ukraine and took a stronger stance on China's support for Russia in a declaration at the summit.

The declaration said the allies intend to provide Ukraine with minimum funding of $43.28 billion in military aid within the next year, but stopped short of the multiyear financial pledge that NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg had sought.

The declaration said the alliance will continue to support Ukraine "on its irreversible path to full Euro-atlantic integration, including NATO membership" as Kiev continues the "vital work" of democratic, economic and security reforms.